FFWD – Celery-Celery Soup

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 17 Comments

Four years ago this week, our first French Friday posts went up. It’s hard to believe that halfway through our fifth year of cooking together, we’ll have completed Around My French Table. Personally, I think we should all meet in Paris for gougères and champagne.

And I wouldn’t mind a bowl of this soup, either. Celery and celery root, with a hint of apple and a base of onions. I flavoured mine with thyme and rosemary, and added some shallots to the mix, but it’s Dorie’s bonne idée that makes this dish for me. The cubes of curried apple she suggests added a touch of complexity that I really enjoyed. I made a vegan version of this soup, but Kevin wasn’t that fond of it, so I think I might pick up some crème fraîche tomorrow. Then again, I might not – it stood up well without the addition of dairy.

The recipe for this week’s recipe is on Dorie’s website.

Fresh Tuna, Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza

I’ve been meaning to catch up on this one for a while, but I didn’t really want to make a gluten-free version of it. It sounded too good with puff pastry. I finally found an excuse to make it last weekend, when my mother and sister-in-law came into town for a hockey game. I used puff pastry vol-au-vents rather than using a sheet of the stuff to make little pizzas – no squashing of flaky layers involved. (For a look at the virtues of flattening puff pastry, see Tomato-Cheese Tartlets.) I did follow the rest of the recipe, arranging thin slices of the ingredients in the vol-au-vents (and their lids) before sliding them back into the oven for a very short time.

It’s a surprising dish – there are so many flavours bursting through, including ginger, tomato, onion and radish, but they all complement each other. These were elegant, delicious little treats. And totally appropriate for a pre-game snack, right?

And now, on to the last six months or so of this cookbook. I can’t tell you how much I’ve come to appreciate my fellow cooks in this adventure. I hope you read through their posts; they’re a lovely bunch of folks.

Find links to the rest of the French Fridays crew’s posts on this week’s recipe here: Celery-Celery Soup. Then check out what Fresh Tuna, Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza looks like when you follow the recipe.

Happy Swoktoberfest

October 2, 2014October 3, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ Leave a comment

Steam Whistle Brewing provided me with an entry ticket to their Oktoberfest party on September 20th, along with a keepsake stein. However, I received no compensation and all opinions in the following post are my own.

Vancouver has become a craft brewing hotspot over the last few years and it seems natural that our cultural scene would find ways to celebrate the diversity and quality of the beers we have available to us now.

Take Oktoberfest – unlike Ontario celebrations, Oktoberfest was limited to small German cultural centres for a long time in Vancouver. But in the last few years, Oktoberfest celebrations have sprung up in restaurants, bars, and even downtown. I was given the opportunity to check out one of the first of this year’s events by Steam Whistle Brewing, who held their 2nd annual Oktoberfest party at The Imperial on September 20th. They debuted this year’s reusable steins, got folks into Bavarian alpine hats, and threw a party.

Bestie was there, with sausage, saurkraut, and pretzels (and amazing mustard sauce, I might add). Polka music was provided by the Rheinlander Oom-pah Band, while the Austria Vancouver Club Edelweiss Dancers showed off German folk dances. Many of the guests got into the act, too, and there were some impressive traditional German costumes all around the room.

The best part of this Oktoberfest, for me, was how well the event catered to patrons young and old. It wasn’t just a university crowd – there were people ranging from their early twenties to well over sixty and you could tell it was a family evening out for many of them. And Steam Whistle’s pilsner is delicious – which is something coming from a stout and ale lover. (Steam Whistle is one of the early entries into better Canadian beer, having been around since 2000 and concentrating on their pilsner exclusively.)

You can get a stein and try their beer for yourself throughout October at Donnelly Group locations.

Now tell me, have you been celebrating Oktoberfest this year? There are plenty of options – what’s been your favourite?

FFWD – Chanterelles with Cabbage & Nuts

August 30, 2014August 31, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 15 Comments

It’s easy to think of disincentives for being late: a tapping foot, the flustered greeting, that feeling of being out-of-step with everyone else. But sometimes there are advantages, too. I couldn’t make it to last week’s Farmers’ Market, so I don’t know if they had chanterelles for sale, but I do know I couldn’t find them anywhere else all week. This afternoon, though, there were several baskets of the beautiful fungus sitting front and centre on Wild Foraged‘s table. I scooped up a box, but I admit I almost gave up on the idea of this week’s dish when I found out they also had Chicken of the Woods on hand.

My better angel prevailed and here we are, with an appetizer that is sweet and savoury, meaty and vegetal, all at once. I made a small portion of the dish for the two of us to share, substituting savoy cabbage for the napa and using some vegetable stock in place of bouillon. I’d forgotten to pick up hazelnuts on the way home, so I used chopped almonds instead. I think they were as nice as hazelnuts would have been. I also took Dorie’s bonne idée and threw in some green grapes, which added another lovely layer of flavour to the dish.

The hardest thing about this dish is obtaining the mushrooms. The easiest thing is deciding to make this again before chanterelle season is over. See for yourself, here.

And because we’re heading into the home stretch of Around My French Table, I’m trying to do at least one catch up a week until I’m up-to-date:

Lyonnaise Garlic and Herb Cheese

I’m sort of glad I waited so long to make this one, or else it might have become a staple item in my refrigerator. Fromage blanc (or in my case, ricotta drained overnight until thick) mixed with alliums and herbs makes a wonderful spread for crudités, breads, or crackers. I loved it with oatcakes and slow-roasted tomatoes. If Kevin wasn’t adhering to his vegan diet of late, I’d have filled tomatoes with the stuff for him. I’ve still got quite a bit left and I’m thinking it might find its way into a savoury tart very soon.

Find out what the rest of the French Fridays crew thought about their Chanterelles with Napa and Nuts

And here’s where you can find the verdict on Lyonnaise Garlic and Herb Cheese

Festivals, Fall, and Fun

August 26, 2014August 27, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

The days are getting noticeably shorter, now. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot left to do before the first frost. Now, that’s true for my garden, but right now I’m talking about all the summer events that are still keeping the city busy and the fall events to come.

Family Fun

There’s still plenty to do before school begins and MetroVancouver‘s activities for kids, youth, and families would be a good place to start – you can learn to fish, take a nighttime stroll in search of bats, or help clean up our shorelines.

I like to celebrate the end of summer the way generations of BC folks have and visit the PNE. Who could resist a fair that provides farming displays, a building full of gadgets, super dogs, more food stands than you could ever visit, and an amusement park?

Speaking of traditions, Saturday movies were a staple of my childhood, so I’m glad there’s a series of $2.50 family movies for kids of this generation.

And for those of you who are ready to embrace autumn with your family, there are a LOT of corn mazes in Metro Vancouver. The Chillwack Corn Maze is the best-known, but Hopcott’s Meadow Maze, Bose Corn Maze, and
Mann Farms’ Wizard of Oz themed maze look like a lot of fun, too.

Adults Can Have Fun, Too

Start with Forbidden Vancouver‘s walking tours, which focus on Vancouver’s seamy side – speakeasies, brothels, and murder most foul all make an appearance.

Bored with brewery tours? Hit up Gin & Tonic Fridays at Long Table Distilleries for a weekend treat.

Who Said Festival Season Is Over?

TAIWANfest brings August to a close with films, lectures, food and more.

For a more rhythmic affair, the Vancouver International Tap Festival is back, culminating in a mass tap explosion on Granville Street on the 31st.

After you’ve finished dancing your heart out, it’s time for the Fringe Festival, bringing the city alive with theatre as we move into autumn.

Then, head over to the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival to kick off film fest season.

Harvest Bounty

Many of the community centres around Vancouver are hosting food-focused workshops this fall. For instance, Cedar Cottage Food Network is giving workshops on fermented foods, putting your garden to bed for the winter, cheese-making, and bread baking.

There are also plenty of harvest festivals coming up, too, like the Bowen Heritage Applefest or Earthwise Society’s Tomato Fest.

And right now is when the farmers’ markets will be overflowing with great produce, so it’s time to stock up.

Eventually, you’ll have to go home, so make sure you’ve made the best of the harvest while it lasts. With any luck, you’ll be eating well until it’s time to break ground again in the spring.

Seed-Saving Season

August 19, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

It’s peak harvest time in the garden now and many of us are focused on eating and preserving as much as we can. But it’s also time to think about next year’s garden, so leaving a few fruits and vegetables to fully mature so that you can harvest the seeds can be part of the plan, too. As I’ve told you before, I’ve been successful saving seeds from the heirloom beans my family grows, but I’m trying to expand those skills.

With that in mind, I headed over to Figaro’s Garden on Sunday to attend their Intro to Seed Saving workshop. The owners are committed to becoming a centre for our neighbourhood’s organic gardening needs and they’ve been providing regular workshops to share skills and build community. They’ve also got a strong connection with Environmental Youth Alliance, which works with young people to build skills and connections with the natural world. One of the owners is the Executive Director of EYA and EYA’s Volunteer Co-ordinator, Katrina Sterba, is also Figaro’s Event Co-ordinator. This crossover has meant that there is a strong grassroots ethos at the garden centre, along with a deep knowledge base for teaching and community outreach.

Sterba led the workshop, allowing some folks from around the neighbourhood to benefit from her expertise. We all had various levels of experience and success with seed-saving, from complete novice to regular experimenter. The workshop led us through a primer on which seeds are the most viable for seed-saving – open pollinated, self-fertile plants are easiest for beginners, while hybrids and some heirloom seeds won’t necessarily grow to resemble the plants they came from. Each of us got a pamphlet with a run down of the concepts she covered and a resource guide for further exploration.

Next, we had a demonstration of the two most common methods of seed-saving: dry and wet. Katrina gave us hands on experience of threshing and winnowing some spring wheat that had been grown right here in East Van. Then, she demonstrated the wet method with one of the most luscious-looking Green Zebra tomatoes I’ve seen.

We also learned from each other. I now have a plan in mind for starting tomato seeds indoors next winter – no small feat in a two-bedroom apartment. There was also a spirited discussion of how to rescue sunflower seeds from hungry birds, or whether we even should.

If you’re in Vancouver, I recommend stopping by Figaro’s Garden for a look at their demonstration gardens or a chat with their staff about your gardening needs. I’ve gotten a number of plants from them over the years, from a dogwood bush for my parents’ (late, lamented) farm to a flat full of annuals for my flower baskets. I’m also going to keep an eye out for more workshops, like the Mason Bee primer they’ll be hosting on September 27th – I think I might become a regular student. In the meantime, I’ve already expanded my seed-saving to the sage plant that flowered abundantly this summer and the peas I grew from seed I got at a seed swap this spring. I’m also keeping an eye on the nasturtiums I picked up from the Kensington-Cedar Cottage Seed Sharing Library so that I can return some to them and keep some for next year’s garden.

Maybe someday, if I keep up the learning, I’ll be able to stop calling myself a beginning gardener.

FFWD – Roasted Red Peppers & Gâteau Basque à la mode

August 15, 2014August 15, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 21 Comments

Hello French Fridays, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I’ve missed you, but I got hit with a nasty sinus infection last month that took away much of my sense of taste and smell, along with almost all of my cooking mojo. I’m coming back on an easy one, so I added in a couple of catch ups, too.

Roasted Red Peppers

I’ve never been a fan of commercial roasted bell peppers – they’re usually a little slimy and the best part of the flavour is in the oil they’re packed in. Homemade roasted peppers, though, are an entirely different matter. Dorie’s recipe has you roasting the peppers in the oven, making it easy to cook them until they blacken and collapse. Once they’ve cooled down enough to peel, it’s just a matter of layering them with seasonings and marinating them in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. I made mine last night and they were wonderful as an appetizer. Unlike the ones out of a jar, they weren’t without texture and they certainly weren’t slimy. Instead, they had a light coating of good olive oil and they were covered in garlic and herbs. I also took a quarter cup of the oil and a slice of pepper, as Dorie suggests in her bonne idée, and made a vinaigrette. I used balsamic instead of sherry vinegar and it was a perfect dressing for salad this evening. Even better, there are still plenty of peppers in the fridge for me to work my way through Mary’s list of roasted pepper ideas.

Gâteau Basque

There has been some disagreement amongst my fellow Doristas as to whether this dessert is a cake or a giant cookie. I don’t really care, because it’s delicious. I used my mother’s homemade cherry jam to fill the gâteau, which isn’t really traditional, but it was wonderful all the same. It’s quick and uncomplicated to make, as long as you leave yourself enough time to chill the dough. I enjoyed this as a summer treat, but I think it will be even better in the wintertime, when a jam-filled treat will bring welcome reminders of the sun.

Olive Oil Ice Cream

Now, I’m not the kind of person that would throw out a cake just because it was made a couple of days ago, but they do tend to get a little drier over time. Since I still had some leftover Gâteau Basque today, I thought a little ice cream might be just the thing to freshen it up. I didn’t have an ice cream maker when the group made Olive Oil Ice Cream, so I decided to tackle one more catch up this week. I was skeptical, I have to say, about olive oil in my ice cream. But this recipe produces a very adult vanilla flavour. The oil cuts the sweetness and enhances the vanilla, while adding a layer of savoury fruitiness all its own. It paired really well with the gâteau, but I would have been just as happy to have it alone, or with some summer fruit.

So, I think I’ve managed a fairly respectable return, don’t you? Once I catch up on the rest of July’s recipes, I’ll be almost on track again. I have to say it’s been good to see you, French Fridays. We shouldn’t wait so long again.

Find out what the rest of the French Fridays crew thought about their Roasted Peppers

You can find links to everyone else’s thoughts about cherry-jam-filled-goodness here: Gâteau Basque

And here’s where you can find the verdict on Olive Oil Ice Cream

Ginger Peach Crisp and Nairn’s Oatcakes – A Review

July 31, 2014March 12, 2016 ~ Teresa ~ 14 Comments

Nairn’s Oatcakes provided me with samples of their products for review. However, all opinions in this post are my own.

I think there’s something both a little homey and a little elegant about oatcakes. They put me in mind of tea and not-too-sweet biscuits with my Irish grandmother. They are also at home on an hors d’oeuvre table, the earthy nuttiness of oats being a perfect foil for dips and spreads, and a nice change from wheat crackers.

So, I was pleased when Nairn’s gave me an opportunity to review their Canadian line of oatcakes. They’re just the sort of thing I like to keep in the cupboard for a snack or light lunch.

Image provided by Nairn's Oatcakes. — Image provided by Nairn’s Oatcakes.

I’ve been eating the oatcakes they sent me all week. The sweet variety are perfect for snacking, but they’re not the North American sugar bombs you might associate with the word cookie. Think of them as biscuits, in the British tradition, instead. Then you’ll be on the right track. I especially like the mixed berry and the ginger flavours with a cup of tea, but the dark chocolate chip flavour is just made for dipping in your coffee. The savoury ones are delicious on their own, but I prefer to make tiny tartines of them, topping them with soft cheeses and berries. They’d also be great with rillettes.

Nairn’s provides lots of recipes and serving suggestions on their website, examples of which you can see in the photos here.

I decided to take the ginger cookies for a spin in the oven, because their spiciness reminded me that I had a bag of ripe Okanagan peaches in the fridge, waiting to be made into a crisp. I used them, crushed, to replace the flour in the topping for the crisp and they worked really well.

I’ve been making variations of this recipe since I was in elementary school. I haven’t actually looked at a recipe for a crisp in years – I use taste and touch to determine when the topping is just right. So, you should think of the recipe below as more of a guideline than a strict set of instructions. If your topping is moist and crumbly, and as sweet as you’d like it to be, it’s ready to top your fruit. I like my topping traditional, but you can add chopped nuts, seeds, or dried fruit to the mix. You can also add dried fruit to the bottom of your crisp. And if your fruit is sweet and juicy, you really don’t need to add any sugar to the bottom. Especially if you’re going to serve your crisp warm, with ice cream. (Yes, that’s a hint.)

Ginger Peach Crisp

1 8X5X2 baking dish

6 – 8 ripe, juicy peaches
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
1 tsp vanilla sugar (optional)

5 Nairn’s Stem Ginger Oat Cookies
1/3 – 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/8 – 1/4 cup softened butter

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Peel and chop the peaches into bite-sized chunks. Stir in the ginger, tarragon, and vanilla sugar (if using) and leave the peaches to marinate for ten minutes or so.

Crush the ginger oat cookies to a fine consistency. I used our mini food processor, but you can use a mortar and pestle or a ziplock bag and a rolling pin, too. Combine the crushed cookies with the brown sugar and oats, then work the butter in with your fingers until you have a moist, crumbly mixture.

Put the peaches into the baking dish, then cover them with the oat topping.

Bake for 25 – 35 minutes.

You can find a list of retailers of Nairn’s oatcakes near you on their website. Thanks to Nairn’s for the opportunity to review their oatcakes.

Cottage Cooking Club – July 2014 (with some June catch ups)

July 28, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 7 Comments

I missed last month’s Cottage Cooking Club, so this month I decided to take on only one new recipe and try and catch up on the June recipes I’d chosen.

Marinated Courgettes (Zucchini) with Mozzarella

My pick for this month was one I knew Kevin and I would both like. Zucchini is one of our favourite vegetables and this marinated salad is perfect for a hot summer’s evening. Even if it requires turning on the stove for a short while. The zucchini is supposed to be cut into long, thin strips, but I picked up some zebra-striped courgettes at the market and didn’t want to lose the stripey effect, so I cut them into thin medallions instead. My favourite part of this salad was how intense the lemon zest and garlic become once infused into the olive oil. Those flavours permeate the zucchini, along with the basil I’d picked from my garden. I also enjoyed the contrast of the cold bocconcini (in place of buffalo mozzarella) against the room temperature salad.

Once my own zucchini moves beyond the blossom stage, I’ll be making this salad often.

My June was busier and more eventful than I’d like, so cooking and blogging had to take a bit of a back seat. I didn’t have time to make all of the dishes I thought I would, but here’s a short round up of the ones I did get to try.

Vegetable Tempura with Chilli Dipping Sauce

First up, gluten-free vegetable tempura. I used Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for tempura, substituting a gluten-free flour mix, and then served the tempura with the River Cottage dipping sauce. You can read about my mishaps in this post, but the tempura, once we were able to sit down to it, was a hit. I loved that Kevin had an opportunity to eat something he hadn’t had since having to go gluten-free, but I’m not a fan of deep-frying, so I don’t think we’ll be revisiting it any time soon.

Honey Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

I’m a huge fan of simple treatments for summer produce. It comes and goes so quickly, why hide its flavour? That said, I can always get behind a technique that doesn’t mask flavour so much as intensify it. Roasting tomatoes does just that. The River Cottage method is simple, tomatoes tossed in a bit of honey, olive oil, and garlic, then cooked in a slowish oven. But what you get is even more amazing than the tomatoes straight off the vine. I used cherry tomatoes, unseeded, and got a lot of delicious juice with my roasted tomatoes. That’s something you might want to avoid with bigger tomatoes, but here it was a gift.

I made these for my parents, taking a little taste for myself. The tomatoes reminded me of a honeyed sauce and that’s how Mom and Dad used them – they made a big pot of pasta and tossed it with the tomatoes, juice and all. A heart-healthy, flavourful meal.

Frittata with Summer Veg and Goat´s Cheese

This is my favourite dish from River Cottage Veg so far. I used a big pile of spinach, along with radish leaves, garlic scapes, thinly sliced radishes and green onions, and fingerling potatoes. I added some rosemary and thyme, then finished it with goat cheese. There’s nothing better for brunch than frittata, as far as I’m concerned. This one was so full of vegetables, it didn’t need any accompaniment, really, but I served it with salad from the garden, anyway.

I love how easy it is to eat healthily in the summertime, don’t you?

Intrigued by this month’s recipes? Buy the book and join us.

Here are the links to the rest of the group’s posts for this month. I encourage you to check them out – you’ll meet some wonderful bloggers and get some great inspiration for vegetarian eating.

Are You Feeling Hot?

July 15, 2014July 16, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 5 Comments

Our recent heat wave has had me feeling like this cat – ready to curl up in a cool, dark corner to wait it out. The problem is that there’s just too much going on here in the summertime. So, it’s sunscreen and lots of water, braving the heat to make it to at least some of the shows, festivals, and concerts that are happening around the city.

Of course, the biggest event of July is always the Vancouver Folk Festival, but there’s a lot more music out there. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden’s Enchanted Evenings series, Vancouver Early Music’s Summer Festival, and CBC’s Musical Nooners are a few of the other events waiting to fill your ears this month. Or perhaps you’d rather combine your music with a little dance at the Robson Square Summer Dance Series.

You can fill your eyes with theatre, art, artifacts, and more at Bard on the Beach, the Queer Arts Festival, Babes & Bathers, or the Summer Cinema Series.

There are festivals happening around the region this month, too, like Surrey’s Fusion Festival, Aldergrove Fair Days, or North Vancouver’s Caribbean Days Festival.

And Foodies need have no fear – there are plenty of events coming up for you, too. If Food Cart Fest is too broad a canvas for you, you can get specific and head for Brewery and the Beast for a more beer and meat focused experience. Heck, you can skip food altogether and just sign up for a brewery tour instead.

There’s even a craft fair this month, Circle Craft’s Summer Market, for those of you who would rather get their shop on.

Of course, the most tried-and-true way to beat the heat is to embrace it and Vancouver has plenty of beaches to allow you to do just that.

As for me, I’m keeping my eye out for the ways my neighbours are celebrating summer. There seems to be something interesting around every corner these days.

Guacamole and Tomatoes – A French Fridays Catch Up

July 11, 2014July 12, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 11 Comments

Today’s post should be about delicate zucchini blossoms in a tempura-like batter, but I’m not there yet – or rather, my garden is not. I am short on blossoms as yet, but that should correct itself by tomorrow or Sunday, latest.

Instead, I’m catching up on the two previous weeks’ dishes, which were so simple it makes me wonder how I let life get in the way of making them before today. They were perfect for a hot summer’s evening graze, which also included hummus, salsa, and crudités. (Not that it qualifies as hot here by the rest of North America’s standards, I’m aware.)

Guacamole with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

This recipe came up in the rotation on the last Friday of June and was whipped up in my kitchen in less than fifteen minutes today. The recipe calls for the guacamole to be presented chunky or smooth. I chose smooth and used my food processor to make it, instead of a mortar and pestle, as Dorie does – mine isn’t big enough.

I used a little too much jalapeño for Kevin’s taste, but I enjoyed the bite. The inclusion of the tomatoes and red pepper made this guacamole reminiscent of a green avocado salsa, though I think I like this recipe better. Tomorrow, it’s going to be even spicier than it was today, so I’m going to pick up some sour cream to cut the heat. Along with corn tortillas and some vegetables sautéed in cumin and oregano, I think we’ve got tomorrow night’s dinner covered.

Tomatoes Provençal

For the month of July, the choices for each week’s assignment were made a little differently than usual. Four of our regular participants were each asked to pick one recipe and to start the month, Kathy of Bakeaway with Me chose Dorie’s Tomatoes Provençal.

Local tomatoes are starting to show up in the markets and roasting them is such a nice way to deepen their flavour. I was especially pleased with the topping – minced garlic with a mixture of herbs from the garden. I love being able to go outside and take as much as I need from the plants in my backyard. It’s one of the many pleasures of summer, isn’t it? I used basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and chives. Nothing else was needed but a little salt, pepper, and olive oil.

We loved these tomatoes, so much so that I saved the leftover juices to use for salad dressing or cooking down vegetables for the frittata I’m planning for later this weekend.

If I were you, I’d give them a go and then visit Kathy’s blog to tell her what a great choice she made.

Find out what the rest of the French Fridays crew thought about the Guacamole with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers.

You can find links to everyone else’s posts on last week’s recipe here: Tomatoes Provençal