food

FFWD – My Go-to Beef Daube (and a Happy New Year)

~ Teresa ~ 14 Comments

As I’m typing this, the beef daube is braising in the oven and I’m preparing peppermint patties and vegan truffles for a potluck we’re going to tonight. We’re ringing in the new year by meditating with my partner’s Buddhist sangha, D.I.Y. Dharma.

For me, it’s been a year of change, commitment and renewed creativity. It’s also been a year of profound losses.

My intentions for 2011 include solidifying my life’s path, while really seeing and valuing the people in my life. I hope 2011 brings you a full share of joy with your life’s challenges.

I’ll leave you with a few photos of the Beef Daube, since this is French Friday, after all. I’ll let you know how we liked it in the comments, tomorrow.

Happy New Year!



We’re doing things a little differently again for the month of December. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: December 31

FFWD – Leek and Potato Soup

~ Teresa ~ 12 Comments

It’s been cold, blustery and wet for the most part lately, so it’s fitting that this week’s post features a warm and comforting soup. It’s also a versatile soup – the full title of this recipe is Leek and Potato Soup, Smooth or Chunky, Hot or Cold. Dorie gives a number of suggestions for variations and this soup could easily act as a base for many more. I chose to try one of the variations and added a handful of shredded spinach to mine near the end of the cooking time. Then, I partially pureed the soup and served it hot.

As with many of Dorie’s recipes, this soup was delicious and impressive without being time-consuming or difficult. I was able to get quite a bit of my Christmas baking done while the soup cooked slowly on the stove. I’m looking forward to the leftovers tonight.

I’ll keep this post short today, so we can all get back to baking. A very merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it and I’ll see you again on Tuesday.

We’re doing things a little differently again for the month of December. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: December 24

FFWD – Speculoos

~ Teresa ~ 10 Comments

At Christmas time, I invariably end up on Main Street. It’s my favourite street for gift-shopping. If truth be told, it’s also my favourite street for breaks and meals pre, mid and post gift-shopping. On Saturday, I had an extra incentive for heading out that way. The Winter Farmers’ Market had their first-ever baking exchange and I had the perfect recipe: Dorie Greenspan’s Speculoos.

I started the recipe Friday night, making the dough and chilling it overnight. The dough was a little crumbly when I was rolling it out, but by morning it was easy to handle. I worked quickly to cut out shapes and get them onto the pan, before the dough softened too much. When the cookies came out of the oven, I sprinkled them with sanding sugar. The best part, though, was testing one. I was so surprised at the crispness of the cookie. I never really expected it to measure up to the crunch of its commercial cousins. Other recipes I’ve tried were never more than crisp-ish. These would be perfect with coffee, especially if you indulged in a little dipping. I can also see the appeal of turning them into sandwich cookies with nutella or dulce de leche filling.

I only needed two dozen cookies for the swap, so I packaged them quickly (using an image I’d found online for the tags) and headed for the Market. I dropped off my cookies and did some shopping while I waited for the swap to begin. Cleverly, the organizer had set up paper bags with participants’ names on them and put our cookies inside. Since we’d all brought two packages of a dozen cookies, we couldn’t have a sample of each kind. Instead, we were invited to pick two bags, making sure they didn’t have our own names on them. I love the grab bag concept. I was pleased to find myself in possession of Roberta LaQuaglia’s Cherry Cornmeal Cookies and Jennifer Zuk’s Chocolate Oatmeal Maraschino Cookies. I’ve tasted them both and can attest that they are delicious. The rest are earmarked for holiday celebrations. Thanks to Robyn Carlson of the Market for organizing the swap – I’m already looking forward to next year’s!

On Tuesday, I’ll let you know what I got up to after the swap as I headed down Main Street.

We’re doing things a little differently again for the month of December. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: December 17

FFWD – Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots

~ Teresa ~ 9 Comments

These days, the light disappears before I even realize it’s afternoon. Rain is forecast as far into the foreseeable future as meteorologists are willing to predict. Not even the unseasonable warmth seems to make up for the dark and the wet. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed.

But that’s not all of it. Often, the predicted rain falls while I am asleep and I wake up to sunshine, warmth and clean air. Even when that’s not the case, the darkness and the rain can be beautiful. It’s just a matter of perspective.

This is what I tell myself when I get frustrated. Like today, when I’m running late with everything and nothing’s working quite as well as it should. Except for dinner. Dinner is terrific tonight. The spiced butter-glazed carrots are so good they might almost pass for dessert and they make a great companion for Sam Sifton’s Asado Negro.

And if you were still hungry afterward, though I’m not suggesting you would be, you might turn to page 36 of the current edition of Edible Vancouver and finish your meal with some pots de crème.

We’re doing things a little differently again for the month of December. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: December 10

FFWD – Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts

~ Teresa ~ 27 Comments

I’ve always loved baking, in an old-fashioned way. When I was a child, I started out as my mother’s helper in the kitchen and then slowly started to master the recipes in her cookbooks. At University, I became known for bringing brownies, cookies and cakes to parties and people would be disappointed if I didn’t. I’ve been doing it ever since.

It’s only been in the last ten years or so that I’ve encountered people who disdain dessert. In one particular circle, I’d bring a basket of cookies to a party and go home with them all untouched. I’d bring the cookies to work the next day and they wouldn’t last a half hour. I was baffled, until I asked the friend who’d introduced me to that crowd. She told me that no one wanted to indulge in unhealthy treats and that a party was no excuse for over-eating.

So, I began bringing cheese plates instead. Blocks of brie, camembert, blue cheese and aged cheddar disappeared, along with the savoury dips and spreads that lined the table. It’s enough to break a baker’s heart. Clearly, the injunction against indulgence really only applied to desserts and baked goods.

I’ve got another one of these gatherings coming up, but I have a solution that’s going to satisfy my baker’s urge and shouldn’t leave me with untouched offerings at the end of the night. Dorie Greenspan’s Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts.

These are a lot like a brittle, with a spicy bite of cayenne and chilli, instead of the usual caramel. I added a touch of smoked paprika to mine and am pleased with the result. The only thing I’d change is the sugar I used. Next time, I’ll pick up some granulated sugar – the slightly coarse cane sugar I had on hand produced a bubbly, brittle texture that isn’t as visually pleasing as I’d like.

I’m going to present them with a variety of salted nuts. I predict they’ll be popular.

We’re doing things a little differently again for the month of December. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: December 3

FFWD – Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans

~ Teresa ~ 19 Comments

Our cookbooks sit on a set of shelves near the entrance to our kitchen. All that fit, that is. Others have no permanent home, floating from kitchen to coffee table to nightstand. Those are the ones I look at most. Note that I did not say use most, although sometimes that’s true. For me (and I’d venture to guess for a lot of people in this culture), cookbooks represent an aspirational impulse. What I shall do; what I want to do; what I wish I could do. Not so very different from the aspirations served by window shopping or dusty mid-list novels.

The reality is that there is only one cookbook in the house, with recipes pulled from here and there in the books on the shelf and those peppered around the house, along with some bookmarked on the computer or printed on cards and slips of paper. The bulk of the recipes, though, are stored in my head. Those are the dishes I come back to over and over again, on the overwhelming majority of days when creativity in the kitchen is shunted aside for the tried and true. My everyday cookbook is a slim volume indeed.

This is one of the reasons I joined the Around My French Table cook-a-long. I don’t want to simply expand that everyday cookbook by a recipe or two, but rather I want to develop a practice of cooking again. Exploring techniques and ingredients that I don’t normally use or have let slip out of my repertoire. Testing the truth of what I believe to be to my taste.

Which brings us to this week’s recipe, Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans. This recipe has divided opinion almost evenly in our group, with people loving it, hating it or changing it completely. If not for the group, I know that it would be one of the recipes that I considered making, but never actually tried. Pumpkin is generally given sweet treatment in Canada and the U.S., while blue cheeses are challenging enough on their own here. Flans, too, are seen here as desserts, rather than savoury appetizers. All of which makes for intriguing reading and doubtful execution.

I liked it, but my two taste-testers weren’t enthralled. Kevin took one small bite, which was enough for him. Our friend ate half of hers, while helpfully telling me that if I’d served it hot, or with sweetened whipping cream, or with a syrupy sauce, it would be a much better dessert than it was. I thought that the pumpkin flavour was a good match for the strength of the gorgonzola and I liked the contrast of those flavours with the honey and sour cream that I’d used for toppings. I’m slowly working my way through the leftovers. After all, I can’t let the gorgeous gorgonzola that I got at Les Amis du Fromage go to waste.

Stretching my repertoire in this way is expanding my cooking habits beyond Around My French Table. I’m finding I’m cooking more from my other cookbooks, too, as well as experimenting in the kitchen. There’s satisfaction and a little bit of power in being able to look at the contents of my pantry and say to myself, “This with this…and this. Yes.”

We’re doing things a little differently for the month of November. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: November 26

Cinnamon-Cardamom Rice Pudding with Honeyed Rosewater Sauce

~ Teresa ~ 19 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that eating out can be challenging for people with celiac disease. But it’s not only restaurants where you might run into problems. Eating at the homes of your friends and family can be tricky, too. It’s hard enough to keep a house gluten-free when someone with celiac disease lives there.

Even when you’ve explained what needs to be avoided, there can be gaps in communication. One friend told me that she’d arranged to go to someone else’s home for dinner and had several phone conversations about her food restrictions, including her gluten-intolerance. My friend is a very thorough and clear communicator. She was assured that her host had educated herself on avoiding gluten and that she had nothing to worry about. During the meal, my friend asked again, just to be sure, and was told that there was definitely no gluten in any of the dishes. When they’d finished, the host turned to my friend and told her that she’d been sure to use only whole wheat flour in the gravy, as she understood that my friend couldn’t have processed white flour. Several days of illness followed.

These sorts of misunderstandings can be compounded when family food traditions are added to the mix. I know that my family’s holiday dinners are very gluten-heavy affairs, from my mother’s delicious gravy to the pies, cookies and cakes for dessert. When my partner comes to these family dinners, adjustments must be made. I’m lucky that my family gets how serious celiac disease can be, since my father’s aunt had it, so the adjustment is painless. That’s not true for many people, though.

Often, the easiest solution for me is to prepare interesting and seasonal dishes that naturally don’t contain gluten. My partner’s not fond of baked goods, anyway, so I get to experiment with other things. This also has the advantage of avoiding complaints from conventional eaters that a modified dish doesn’t taste the way they expect it to taste.

Here’s a recipe for rice pudding that would fit in at any fall or winter celebration. It relies on Middle Eastern flavours, but I added some cranberries and increased the cinnamon for a seasonal flair. You can try other dried or fresh fruits, as well as chopped nuts. Dried apricots and pistachios work well, especially if you concentrate on cardamom as the main spice.

Rice Pudding with Honeyed Rosewater Sauce

Makes eight servings

The rice pudding was inspired by this New York Times article.

The honeyed rosewater sauce was adapted from The Healthy Gourmet Cookbook.

For the Pudding:

3 cups cooked brown rice
4 cups whole milk
¼ to ½ cup organic cane sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cardamom
2 to 3 points star anise
1 tsp. rosewater

Combine rice, milk and sugar and bring to boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Add rosewater and star anise points. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and the milk has been almost completely absorbed. Many people like to add the spices at the end, but I add them in a little into the simmering time, as it seems to infuse the rice with their flavour more. When it’s done, set it aside to cool a little, then spoon into serving dishes and put those into the refrigerator to chill.

Notes:
The ratio of cooked rice to milk is generally 1 cup rice to 1½ cups milk. I use a little less milk than that when I’m making a big batch. Adjust the other ingredients and cooking time accordingly. I used a scant ¼ cup of sugar, as I was also using the honeyed rosewater sauce. Use sugar to taste. Any sweetener and any milk will work in this recipe, so try it with whatever you’d normally use.

For the Sauce:

2 cups water
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons rosewater
1 teaspoon lemon (or orange juice, for a sweeter taste)
1 cinnamon stick
2 or three strands of saffron

Bring the water and honey to a boil, then reduce the temperature to a simmer. Add the rosewater, lemon, cinnamon stick and saffron. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the mixture has a slightly syrupy texture.

Allow to cool and then chill in the refrigerator.
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To put it together, drizzle a little of the sauce on each serving of pudding and garnish with chopped dried fruits and/or nuts.

I’m adding this recipe to Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef’s recipe round up, which can be found here: Gluten-Free Thanksgiving 2010. They’ve gathered recipes from well-known food bloggers, along with a tonne of recipes from more bloggers in the Comments. So, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, or have misgivings about its colonialist roots, you should check this out. It’s an amazing resource of recipes for gluten-free celebrations. And your gluten-eating friends and family will be too full to notice. If you contribute a recipe, or even a comment, you’ll also be eligible for some great prizes!

FFWD – Pommes Dauphinoise (Potato Gratin)

~ Teresa ~ 19 Comments


We had the first snow of the year last night, though nothing really stuck to the ground. It’s wet here in Vancouver and there are only a few times each year that conditions are right for snow. By the time I took the dog out for her final walk of the day, the snow had turned to heavy rain and only a few small patches of ice remained, stuck to the grass. Still, I can see that it’s time to put away my light jackets and reach to the back of the closet for my winter coats. I should also finish the scarf that I’ve been starting for the last two months. It will go quickly now, for I seem to knit with more conviction when it’s cold outside.

Pommes Dauphinois is a wintry dish. Layers of potato soaked in garlic-infused cream, with a layer of gruyère cheese on top – it’s a perfect dish for chasing out the cold. It looks wintry, too, with white on white on white, until it’s baked. Then, its gruyère topping turns golden.

The recipe itself takes some time, so it’s not a good choice for a last-minute dish. However, none of the steps are particularly difficult. My knife skills are lacking, so I didn’t achieve uniformity in the thickness of my potato slices. I think I must invest in a mandoline. Cooking the dish took longer than the time given in the recipe, so be prepared for that. I used the opportunity to add more cheese, which was very bad of me, but very much appreciated by my dinner companions.

There’s no picture of the completed dish. Everyone was quite hungry. I’d also made Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux and it was resting on the counter, filling the kitchen with its aroma. There was really no time for any more photographs. The dish was quickly decimated. You’ll have to be content with the photo I took just before I added that extra layer of cheese.

The potatoes are creamy and subtly garlicky and gruyère is the perfect counterpoint to those flavours. They were a very good accompaniment for the chicken and we rounded off the meal with steamed brussels sprouts. I’ll be making these potatoes again, though probably in smaller quantities, as the recipe is suitable for a crowd.

We’re doing things a little differently for the month of November. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: November 19

FFWD – Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux

~ Teresa ~ 31 Comments

I didn’t realize I came from a long line of lazy chicken roasters until I encountered Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux in Around My French Table. In our family, the standard treatment for chicken was a halved onion and a halved apple in the cavity, with garlic and whatever herbs and vegetables were on hand. Roasted in a slow oven, with a basting session or two, it’s been a standby at least as far back as my mémère (my maternal grandmother). It’s such an easy recipe that when I was young, my mother allowed me to get it started after school, so that we could eat as soon as my parents came home from work.

I’ve experimented a fair amount with chicken since then (starting with 40 cloves of garlic chicken, which was my standby through University) and I’ve generally abandoned cooking whole chickens in favour of using chicken breasts and thighs. After making Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux, whole chicken is going back into the repertoire.

This recipe is even simpler than the one I grew up using. No basting, just an addition of vegetables (if you like) at the half way point. Fresh herbs, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and a little white wine are all that’s needed to make this dish fantastic. I especially liked the trick of cutting a whole head of garlic in half, leaving one half inside the chicken and one out.

While the chicken roasted, I was able to prepare the rest of dinner, including getting a start on the dish for next week’s post, Pommes Dauphinois (or Potato Gratin). The only difficulty was concentrating on what I was doing, for as the chicken cooked, it filled the kitchen with a wonderful aroma.

I don’t have a dutch oven, so I used a roasting pan. Since it doesn’t have high sides, I decided to roast the chicken covered. That didn’t seem to harm the chicken at all. After it was done, I let the chicken rest breast-down as suggested and the meat was wonderfully juicy.

Finally, there’s the matter of the bread. Dorie recommends placing the chicken on a bed of thick bread or baguette. The bread is crispy on the bottom and full of pan juices on the top. I have only one photo of this bread, and only half the amount of bread I used at that, because it disappeared too quickly for me to have another chance at a better shot. This slightly blurry photo will serve as proof that the bread is as delicious as advertised.

Today, I’m going to leave you with two recipes, since I mentioned them. You’ll have to buy Around My French Table for Dorie’s recipe, though. You should, you won’t be able to stop using it.

Mémère’s Chicken

1 roasting chicken
2 onions, peeled, one halved and the other cut into chunks
1 apple, halved
1 bay leaf
3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled
salt and pepper
Fresh or dried herbs (optional)
roastable vegetables, like potatoes, carrots or celery (optional)

Lightly oil a roasting pan. Place the halved onion, the apple and the bay leaf inside the chicken. You can add some fresh herbs, if you like. I often use sage or savoury with this recipe. Place the chicken in the roasting pan. Scatter the garlic and remaining onions around the chicken. You can also add fresh or dried herbs to the pan and chunks of potato, carrot and celery (or whatever roastable vegetable takes your fancy). Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper.

Roast, covered, at 350° for 1½ to 2 hours, depending on the weight of your chicken. Baste once or twice during the cooking time, with the juices in the pan. You can take the cover off the chicken near the end, so that it browns.
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To make the gravy, bring the pan juices to a boil, adding a teaspoon or so of flour or cornstarch. If you take a little of the heated broth and mix it with your thickener before adding it, you’re less likely to get lumps. Cook down until the mixture thickens, place in a container for a few minutes and then skim off the fat. This gravy is perfect with mashed potatoes, but that might just be my childhood speaking.

UPDATE: I spoke to my mother about this recipe and she said – no bay leaf, always rosemary and thyme, cook it for a longer time at 325° if possible. (This is what happens when a recipe is handed down verbally.)
                       

40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken (remembered from the Urban Peasant)

Handy Hint: If you invite ten of your University friends over for dinner and decide to double the recipe (i.e., cook two chickens), don’t forget you might also be doubling the time it takes to cook. Especially when you have a tiny, unreliable oven. People get very hungry when you serve dinner at midnight. Don’t ask me how I know. It was a long time ago.

1 roasting chicken
1 lemon
3 to 6 heads of garlic (for 40 cloves in total)
olive oil
salt
pepper, fresh ground
½ to ¾ cup white wine (optional)

Rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil, then sprinkle well with salt and pepper. Lightly oil a roasting pan. Pierce a number of holes in the lemon with a skewer, then place the lemon inside the chicken. Put the chicken into the roasting pan. Break the heads of garlic into cloves and scatter the unpeeled cloves around the chicken. Add the wine, if you’d like.

Roast, covered, at 350° for 1½ to 2 hours, depending on the weight of your chicken. Baste once or twice during the cooking time, with the juices in the pan. You can take the cover off the chicken near the end, so that it browns.

There will be a lot of liquid in the pan, which makes a fantastic garlic-lemon gravy. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook down. You can add a little wine if you’d like and you can also add a little cornstarch or flour to help thicken the gravy. All optional. Once it’s thickened, pour the gravy into a container, let it sit for a few minutes and skim the fat from the top.

We’re doing things a little differently for the month of November. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: November 12

A New Home for the Winter Farmers’ Market, with Digressions

~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

This past Saturday, the Vancouver Farmers’ Market had their first winter market of the season. It was a bittersweet occasion for me, because until this year the winter market was almost literally a stone’s throw away from where I live. (If I had a better arm, it would have been.) But, the market had long outgrown its winter home at the WISE Hall and this year the city gave permission for the move to the parking lot at Nat Bailey Stadium.

I’ve told you the bitter, but there’s definitely some sweet. The winter market can now happen weekly and is much larger than it was in its old incarnation. Since the scattered summer markets are now closed for the season, there’s also an advantage in having it in a location that’s nearer the centre of the city. It’s reasonably accessible by transit and there are good cycling routes available, so it’s possible to avoid the congestion and competition for parking spots that driving there causes. Once again, the east side has served as an incubator for something that benefits the whole city. And local, organic food is definitely beneficial.



                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       

Though it seems like awareness of food miles and the benefits of eating locally has sprung up out of nowhere in the last few years, the Vancouver Farmers’ Market has been running for fifteen years now. The dominant culture can take quite a while to catch on to a good thing.

I first heard someone talk about eating locally in the mid-eighties. He was one of the most interesting professors I ever had. His course was ostensibly about the geography of weather, but he made sure to give us some life lessons along the way. For instance, he talked to us about geographical and weather considerations for house-hunting, which I think of often when looking at the suburbs running up the North Shore Mountains. (Hint: it’s very bad to cut into a natural slope in a rainforest climate zone.) He’s also responsible for politicizing me around water rights, and by extension, all natural resources and genetic materials. It’s always amazed me how much taking that one course helped me to solidify my political and ethical ideas.

Eating locally was one of those ideas. In the class discussion, we focused on the farm stands that dotted the Fraser Valley, where I grew up. The farms behind those stands grew a variety of vegetables, with much less need of pesticides than industrial mono-culture farms. They could also grow more varieties than industrial farms, since transportation-hardiness and shelf life weren’t considerations for local sales. We learned that we were lucky to have so much access to good food. As the years went by and as development skyrocketed in the Valley, I wondered how long this access would last.

Enter the organic and local food movements.

Now, not only do we have a vibrant system of farmers’ markets across our region, but people are also looking for local, organic produce in grocery stores. I think this bodes well for our health and also for the health of our farmlands, which have been under threat of development even when they’re part of the Agricultural Land Reserve .



                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       

Farm stands have even been experiencing something of a renaissance. When I’ve visited farm stands on the Sunshine Coast, I’ve felt like they are lovely, nostalgic throwbacks. Especially since some of them leave their produce unattended, with a price list and a strongbox for you to leave payment. With the rise of urban farming, though, the Farmers’ Market is no longer the only game in town. There’s even a small farm and stand in a vacant lot at Victoria and First.

Extremely local eating is becoming more and more organized here. Neighbours are co-ordinating garden plots together; urban farmers are leasing back (and front) yards; the Vancouver Fruit Tree Project harvests surplus and unwanted fruit; and chicken houses, aquaculture systems and apiaries are springing up around the city. I hope our food culture continues along this trajectory, because our future food security will depend upon it.