Cook the Book Fridays – Eggplant Caviar

August 4, 2017August 5, 2017 ~ Teresa ~ 6 Comments

The sky this morning was an poisonous shade of orange and all day there has been a visible haze of smoke. The air has a heaviness that I haven’t felt since I was in Mexico City and I’ve been limiting my dog walks to a block or so for days.

It’s better here than through much of the province – Kamloops scored a horrifying 49 on the Air Quality Health Index and Clinton’s Mayor warned that a wildfire may threaten the hydro station that fuels much of MetroVancouver and the Island. The city has emptied out for the long weekend, save for those celebrating Pride Weekend and the Powell Street Festival, with many people in search of clearer air.

But, I’m supposed to be writing about something much more pleasantly smoky. [Aside: When did smokey become an old-fashioned spelling?] I charred some eggplants on the grill this evening, then finished them in the oven. I scooped out the pulp and whirred it in the food processor with lemon, garlic, smoked paprika, and basil. Then, I served it with crackers and toasted French bread.

It’s the kind of dip that I enjoy taking on a bike ride or a hike as much as I do serving it as part of a buffet. I whirred it a little too long to live up to its name, but the flavour is still terrific. It’s salty, earthy, herbacious, and spicy. It would have been lovely as part of an al fresco meal, under normal circumstances, but tonight it took a little bit of the sting out of staying indoors.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Hummus

June 2, 2017June 3, 2017 ~ Teresa ~ 12 Comments

I find that it’s in warmer weather than my refrigerator fills with dips, sauces, and condiments. In colder months, it’s filled with soups and stews, one pot meals that need no additional seasoning, save for a quick gremolata or a dusting of seasoned breadcrumbs. I might find myself thinking I should whip up some romesco or chimichurri, but I rarely do.

This seasonal shift might be because mix-and-match buffets are perfect for outdoor eating; or that tartines showcasing summer produce need just a swipe of something flavourful to complete them; or that hot weather saps my will to cook and suppresses my appetite, so it’s best to fill the fridge with quick and tempting food. It’s probably the last one, if I’m being honest. The others are simply collateral benefits.

In any case, June is a great time to perfect your house hummus recipe, before it gets too hot and in time for all those picnics you’re going to organize in July and August. This hummus is a great place to start. There aren’t any flavourings incorporated into the hummus itself, save for lemon, garlic and tahini, making it a blank canvas for whatever you choose to garnish it with. I used dukkah and smoked paprika, as suggested, along with a drizzle of olive oil and it went nicely with the rye crackers I had on hand.

I made a full batch, which is at least enough for the weekend. I think I might make some flat breads tomorrow and fill them with hummus and fresh vegetables, for a bit of Eighties nostalgia and some easy weekend eating.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Multigrain Bread

May 19, 2017May 19, 2017 ~ Teresa ~ 12 Comments

I can’t believe that it’s been more than a month since I shared a meal with my Cook the Book Fridays friends. I’ve missed checking in on everyone’s blog and telling everyone else about another one of My Paris Kitchen‘s terrific recipes.

This week, I couldn’t miss out. Baking bread is one of my favourite meditative occupations and it’s one I don’t do often enough. This recipe might help me with that – here’s a bulleted list to prove it:

The only preparation needed is a starter that’s mixed the night before and left to bubble away in a warmish place (which is easier now that the weather is finally warming up).
It’s kneaded in the stand mixer, but the dough isn’t taxing on my KitchenAid’s motor.
It uses items I regularly stock, like bread flour and a variety of seeds, requiring only one addition to my pantry – a $3.00 bag of whole wheat pastry flour.
It’s a great excuse to break out my Dutch oven, which gives it a perfectly chewy, crisp crust.
The crumb is tender and almost uniform, making this a candidate for all-time favourite sandwich bread.
It’s much more flavourful than any grocery store multigrain and it’s not that far removed from a good bakery loaf.
It’s easily adaptable to whatever add-ins your pantry can provide.

If that hasn’t convinced you to try this bread, perhaps the recipe itself might. You can find it over on Fine Cooking. It’s a perfect weekend bread. You only have to attend to it for a few minutes at a time, over the course of a morning or afternoon, while you get on with chores, cooking, or crosswords. (Or the much more exciting things you may be getting up to on Saturday – I choose comfort and alliteration, for this weekend at least.)

I didn’t have any issues making the bread, save for needing to bake it about ten minutes longer than the recipe called for. Some of the other cooks in our group needed to adjust the temperature, timing, or hydration a little for their loaves. I took Betsy‘s advice and added the seeds partway through the initial knead, wrapping a kitchen towel around my stand mixer to avoid flying flax seeds.

The only other problem I had was patience. I cut into it before it was cool, slightly munching the edge of the cut loaf, as you can see in the photo above. The good news is that when it was truly cool, it cut like a dream. And I don’t regret my impatience, because there are few pleasures like warm, fresh bread slathered with butter. It’s certainly worth one minorly crumpled crust.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Green Beans with Snail Butter

March 31, 2017March 31, 2017 ~ Teresa ~ 10 Comments

Some of my earliest restaurant memories involve escargots. My parents wanted their children to be comfortable in establishments ranging from hamburger joints to fine dining rooms, and they also wanted us to be willing to try anything on the menu. It helped that escargots are a favourite of my mother’s, so we were exposed to them early and often. It helped, even more, that they were drowned in delicious, garlicky, lemony butter. You haven’t lived until you’ve had that butter running down your chin. (You weren’t raised by my parents if that happened more than once.)

These days, I appreciate a version that doesn’t involve the fuss of making escargots at home, appeals to vegetarians, and can even be veganized in a pinch. Green beans are chameleons in the kitchen and take to lashings of lemony garlic butter beautifully. In this recipe, they’re steamed before being finished in the pan, but they could just as easily be blanched, if that works better for you.

I was tempted to pick up a baguette to soak up the butter, but I decided to add it to some red sauce, instead. It’s the time of year when winter pantry staples start to feel very tired. Adding this butter gave the sauce a richness and freshness of flavour that made me forget that fresh tomatoes are still months away.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Wheat Berry Salad

March 5, 2017March 5, 2017 ~ Teresa ~ 8 Comments

The full title of this recipe is Wheat Berry Salad with Radicchio, Root Vegetables, and Pomegranate and it’s really hard to single out a component that’s the star of the show in this salad. They all work together so beautifully and chase away any end-of-winter ennui that root vegetables may hold at this time of year. I especially loved the dressing of olive oil, lemon, Dijon mustard, and pomegranate molasses. This salad is going to fuel me for a few days.

It was a good recipe to jump back into the group with, after a short post-Christmas blog break. I so appreciate connecting with the other bloggers in this group, something that I’ve been particularly aware of this week.

Many of us cooked through Around My French Table together and we heard the sad news that one of our friends from that project has passed away. Kathy of Bakeaway with Me would have made a gorgeous version of this salad and showed it off with her beautiful photography. She’ll be missed, as a kind and generous cornerstone of our Dorista community; as a talented blogger, recipe developer, and photographer; and of course, as a mother, grandmother, and friend. My thoughts are with her family and community.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Fresh Herb Omelette

January 6, 2017January 6, 2017 ~ Teresa ~ 10 Comments

Happy New Year! I hope 2017 brings plenty of good things, though it’s sure to be a challenging year, as well. My December was hectic and celebratory and my blog schedule suffered as a result. I don’t regret it at all, but I did miss keeping up with my friends at Cook the Book Fridays. So, I’m catching up on most of the dishes I missed in December, along with posting about our very first selection of 2017.

Fresh Herb Omelette

After all the complicated dishes, rich holiday favourites and baking, baking, baking, a simple omelette was a wonderful way to usher in a new year of cooking together. I’ve often skimped on butter when making omelettes, but faithfully using the quantity specified in this recipe gave this omelette the kind of crust and soft, fluffy interior I’m only used to at restaurants. No more skimping on butter for me.

Pissaladière

I first made Pissaladière when I was cooking through Around My French Table with French Fridays with Dorie, way back in 2011. It’s a dish I don’t revisit often enough, so I was glad to have a reminder of how much I like this onion, anchovy, and olive tart. I’m not sure I can choose between the two versions. I like them both, though it is convenient that David’s dough doesn’t require an egg – with the number of eggs I ran through during holiday baking, that was probably more important than it would be in the summertime.

This is something I like to make for company, but I was on my own for it this time around. I didn’t “minify” it, though. Instead, I made the full recipe, pulling it out when it was fully baked, but not as browned as I like it. I cut it into squares, put one back in the oven to brown, and put the rest into the fridge in a covered container, once they’d cooled. That gave me several days’ worth of this delicious treat, each slice of which was just as good as the first, once it got its second round in the oven.

Grated Carrot Salad

This is another dish that was also tackled by the French Fridays crew when I was cooking through Around My French Table, but this version skips the raisins and nuts, focusing on carrot, herbs, and a lemon-mustard dressing. I’m all in favour of that. Simple salads that go with almost anything else you’re serving aren’t just the stuff of January resolutions – they’re year-round necessities that make meals shine.

I’m looking forward to catching up on everyone else’s posts from December and I’m also looking forward to what’s in store on the blog in the next few weeks. There will be a chocolate tasting to tell you about and a risotto recipe or two to share. I’ll be updating you on the progress of my spider plant and making good on my intention to share more about community this year. In these times, I think it’s good to celebrate the ways in which we come together, don’t you?

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Chocolate Dulce de Leche Tart

November 19, 2016 ~ Teresa ~ 10 Comments

By the time I got around to photographing this tart, it no longer looked beautiful, but it still tasted fantastic. Also, I should have made my own dulce de leche because the one I bought was a little too saucy and ran a bit. But the crust was cookie-like and cocoa-rich and the chocolate custard was smooth, dense and delicious.

A short post this week, because I’m helping out with the annual craft fair my Mom and her friends organize.

I’m looking forward to seeing some beautiful renditions of this dessert in everyone else’s posts later this weekend.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Scalloped Potatoes with Blue Cheese and Roasted Garlic

November 4, 2016November 5, 2016 ~ Teresa ~ 15 Comments

This week’s recipe is a rich version of an old fashioned comfort food dish. It’s something that I didn’t often have growing up, because it’s the one potato dish my father has always hated. It’s on of my mother’s favourites, though, so she’d make it sometimes when he was away hunting or fishing. Blue cheese is another of her favourites, so I think I’ll have to make for her the next time my Dad travels. She’ll be doubly pleased.

I’ve only made scalloped potatoes a handful of times myself, because I associate them with the kind of feast you’d have at a dinner party or for a holiday. On those occasions, I usually cook to accommodate the variety of special diets that people in my circles require.

But, since it was on the roster, I scaled the recipe down by two-thirds and made an indulgent meal for myself. I served it with salad, as David suggests, and I’m glad I made it the star on the plate. I’m even happier that there are leftovers for tomorrow.

I loved the flavour of the Roquefort I used, but I can’t help wondering what it would be like with other cheeses, too. So many of them would play well with the garlic-infused cream that makes up the sauce.

And as some of you know, Katie of Prof Who Cooks was in town yesterday, for a whirlwind trip to celebrate a friend’s birthday. She was able to fit in a visit to Faubourg with me in the afternoon and it was such a pleasure to chat with her and get to know her a little more. She’s just as lovely in person as she is on her blog.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Baked Eggs with Kale

October 21, 2016October 22, 2016 ~ Teresa ~ 9 Comments

Spending your formative years watching classic movies can leave you with some curious notions. For the longest time, I thought that cracking wise was the telltale sign that someone was interested in you, which got me into trouble now and again when I tried to put it into practice. I also believed that a meal of eggs cooked late at night was the height of sophistication. (Later analysis made me suspect that it was just a way of connecting with Depression-era audiences.)

Still, there’s a shadow of that idea left in me, making me rather pleased with myself whenever I make an egg dish more complicated than sunny side up. And truly, eggs have a little bit of magic about them. Until we all discovered aquafaba last year, there really wasn’t anything that could rival eggs’ versatility.

Which is why I felt a little self-congratulatory when I pulled these baked eggs out of the oven. It’s hard not to feel pleased when the result looks so pretty, with swaths of goat cheese and garlicky breadcrumbs surrounding sunny yellow yolks. And with layers of ham and kale underneath, it’s just as pretty when you dish it out. There’s no evidence of that in this post, because it disappeared too quickly to document. A victim of deliciousness.

I baked a half-sized portion of this dish, but I made the full amount of kale and tripled the breadcrumb recipe. Which means that I can do it all over again this weekend. I’ll also have plenty of breadcrumbs left over after that, which is a wonderful thing. Full of butter, garlic, and thyme, they’re like a culinary secret weapon.

I even have an excuse to try it again soon. I’m in the midst of my yearly pre-holiday eating-down-the-freezer routine, so I used some ham that I had on hand. The original recipe calls for smoked salmon and I’ll need to do a taste comparison – in the interests of fairness, of course.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.

Cook the Book Fridays – Butternut Squash Crumble

October 7, 2016October 21, 2016 ~ Teresa ~ 16 Comments

Holiday dinner season starts this weekend in Canada, just in time for the markets to start filling with this year’s autumn harvest. Growing up, we always had yams or squash on our holiday table, but they were never the storied candied yams with marshmallows that I heard about from other families. My mother preferred to roast them and mash them with just enough butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg to enhance their natural flavour. It’s my favourite way to eat them still.

So, I looked at this week’s recipe carefully, worried that it skewed to the dessert on the dinner table side of things. But, this recipe makes the most of butternut squash’s savoury affinities, while using its sweetness to balance the dish. The crisp is a mixture of bread crumbs, Parmesan, and polenta, seasoned with sage and held together by butter and egg. Underneath, the squash is infused with homemade chicken stock and flavoured with thyme and shallots.

As much as I like sweet crumbles, with almost any sort of fruit, I’m excited to have met its savoury cousin. Now that I’ve given it a test-run, it can graduate to prettier baking dishs and shine on holiday tables this year, and I suspect, for years to come.

You can read through everyone’s posts here. And consider joining this community of wonderful cooks and lovely people, as we work our way through David Lebovitz‘ My Paris Kitchen.