Corn Chowder

This might be my last post for awhile as I leave for London tomorrow.   Soon I will be hungry for Halifax!

I was really impressed by Kevin from Top Chef's Quickfire "deconstructed green bean casserole" from two weeks ago.  He made a corn pudding, topped with a confit of tomatoes and green peas that looked delicious.  So I thought I would make a corn chowder with a little tomato salad to go on top.  It was sooo good.  The soup was really creamy and simple.  And the tomato salad and the red peppers we had on the side, were perfect complements.

Vegan Corn Chowdah

Takes 30 minutes

Makes 4 big bowls of soup

1/2 large onion, diced

1 large garlic clove, sliced

1 very large potato, cubed

2 ears corn, shucked (not really sure if this is the right word.  get the kernels off the ears people)

4 cups water

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

In a pot on medium high heat, add some olive oil.  Saute the onions and garlic until translucent.  Add the potatoes and black pepper and saute for a couple of minutes.  Add the water and a 1/2 tsp. of salt.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer.  After about 5 minutes, add the corn, and cook for about 5 minutes more.

Puree with a hand blender, or in batches in a regular blender.  Check for salt.

Tomato Confit

Takes 30 minutes

Makes 4 soup toppings

10 tomatoes, small yellow ones

salt

pepper

olive oil

basil or parsley or any herbs you want

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut tomatoes into quarters.  Toss with some olive oil, the salt and pepper and herbs.  Put into an oven-proof pan and "confit" for 20 minutes.

This would be so good on toast!

We ate the soup with roasted peppers--red and long skinny green one that was a little spicy.

I also made a new loaf of bread.  More on that experiment gone wrong later.  Wasn't it the cutest little dough ball though?

Dissertation here I come!

Yummy Plummy Crumble

This summer in Halifax, we've been enjoying a lot of delicious plums.  Yellow ones, sugar plums, and the delicious Italian prune plums that are so good preserved, crisped and tarted.

I made this Martha Stewart Plum Crostata earlier this summer, replacing the Port with a simple syrup I made from boiling the plum pits (which always end up with so much flesh: I am so bad at halving and pitting fruit!) with the sugar and water until it reduced to 1/2 a cup.

I made a version of this plum preserve recipe this summer.  We opened the jar earlier this week, and it is so good: tart with a taste of honey.  Extra good on buttered toast!

So when I saw prune plums at the market last week, I snatched them, knowing they'd probably be the last of the season.  I combined a recipe posted by Orangette for the fruit with this simple plum crisp recipe from Gourmet for the crisp, trading out the butter for a combination of Smart Balance and Special Hazelnut butter.  Paddy likes to mix hazelnut butter with honey to make a delicious spread for toast.  We had just a quarter cup left, so I mixed that with the Smart Balance.  Here's my masterpiece.

Vegan Plum Crumble with a hint of honey

Takes 2 hours

Makes 9 servings

Plum Filling

2 pounds Prune Plums, halved and pitted

2 Tbsp. light brown Sugar

2 Tbsp. raw cane Sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Crumble

3/4 cup raw almonds (or sliced)

1/4 cup Smart Balance (or butter)

1/4 cup Nut Butter (I used Hazelnut, Almond would work too)*

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

Grease a 9x9 baking pan with Smart Balance.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees fareinheit.

On baking tray, toast almonds until golden, 10 minutes for the sliced almonds, 15 minutes for the raw almonds.  Let Cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the plum filling until combined.  Pour into baking dish.

In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup oats, all of the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt, and mix until combined.  Work in butter (substitute) and nut butter until the mixture resembles crumble topping.

Once the nuts are cool (smash the whole almonds if you used those, either in a mortar or in a plastic bag with a heavy jar), add those and the remaining 1/4 cup of oats to the rest of the crumble topping.  Mix to combine.  Spread evenly onto the plums.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crumble is browned and the plums are done (Stick a fork in a plum, if it's soft, it's done!).

We enjoyed ours last night while watching the Edith Piaf film La Vie en Rose.  Thank god we had this plummy crumble to remind us there is goodness in the world.  That film is sad.

*  Paddy thinks his Special Hazelnut Honey Butter is approximately 60-66% Hazelnut Butter and 33-40% Honey.  I forgot to reduce the amount of sugar I used in the Crumble Topping to compensate for the honey.  It turned out ok because the plum filling remains very tart in this recipe.  I think I will keep the crumble topping this sweet when I make this again next summer.

Ragu it's in there

It is cold here in halifax.  On Monday, I made this really fragrant and satisfying sauce with vegetables from the farmer's market.  The carrots were particularly beautiful, moist and crisp!  I think these will be the last fresh tomatoes for the season.  Some of them were a little mealy, and I was very sad.

I used the tomatoes we canned in August for this ragu, and they were so delicious!  Definitely worth the ordeal.

Ragu it's in there!

Takes 2 hours

Makes 4 servings

1 large onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

1 pint mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup sherry

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 500ml jar tomatoes

8 roma tomatoes, diced

1 package linguine

Heat oil in a large skillet on high heat.  When hot, add fennel seeds.  Toast for a few seconds, add onions and carrots and smoked paprika.  When it smells smoky and the onions are translucent, add the garlic and the mushrooms.  Cook until the water from the mushrooms is released, evaporates, and the mushrooms begin to brown.  It will take awhile, especially if like me you don't have a big enough pan.  It took my mushrooms about 15 minutes.

They weren't done yet in that picture.

Add sherry, and cook until it evaporates.  Add the bayleaf, salt (you might not want as much as I have here, add 1/2 tsp. now, and you can add the rest later), pepper, and both kind of tomatoes.  Reduce heat to simmer, and continue to cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until it is thick and the oil shimmers on the surface.

Meanwhile, heat a large pot of water for the pasta.  I add salt to my water.   Cook according to package directions.  I made linguine.  I like to under-cook mine in the pasta water, drain and finish it in the sauce, an extra 3 to 4 minutes

Sprinkle with basil/parsley/parmesan.  Whatever you want!

We ate ours with some sauteed spinach.  Unfortunately, I am still figuring out the picture taking, and I don't have any of the final sauce.  Just imagine, thick tomato-ey, mushroom-y goodness.

Thakkali saddam means tomato rice

I wanted to share my mom's recipe for tomato rice, thakkali saddam.  This was a favorite recipe for special occasions when we were growing up.  The rice is deliciously flavored with tomato, cinnamon and other spices, so all you need to eat it with is some yoghurt, or some really simple greens or a salad.

I think this would be great with a long grain brown rice.  I haven't tried that, but I assume it would just need a little bit more water.

I'm leaving her directions as is, but I'll write an ingredient list.

Thakkali Saddam

Makes 6 Servings

Takes 2 hours

2 cups Basmati or Jasmine Rice

3 large onions

5 or 6 large ripe tomatoes

2 green chilies

1 inch piece of ginger

5 or 6 garlic pods

canola oil

2 sticks cinnamon

2 bay leaves

10 cloves

2 tsp. fennel seeds

1 tsp. lime juice

big handful of mint

1) Soak 2 cups Basmati rice for 30 minutes or so.   

2) Cut 3 large onion (thinly sliced or chopped)

3) Chop 5 to 6 large ripe tomatoes (if roma tomatoes may be 12)

4) Chop 2 green chilies, grate ginger and grate 5 or 6 garlic pods.  5) In 6qt or 8 qt vessel, add 5 or 6 tsp of veg/canola oil

6) Add 1 or 2 stick of cinnamon, 1 or 2 bay leaves (if available), 8 or 10 cloves, and 2 tsp fennel seeds.  Fry for a minute or so.

7) Add chopped onions and fry well.

8) Add chopped tomatoes and fry well till it becomes smooth paste (use masher to mash it well). If needed, add more oil.

9) Add ginger and garlic. Fry

10) Add salt and chilly powder if needed.

11) Drain water from rice and add rice to the tomato gravy. Fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of water (if tomato sauce is liquidy, add less water)

12) Lower heat and cover the pot and put the timer for 20 minutes.

13) Let it cool for an hour. With fork fluff the rice, add salt if needed and add 1 tsp of lime juice if not tart. Mix and move it to a serving bowl.

14) Garnish with mint leaves if available. If not it is okay. Sometime the bottom may be burnt if there is not much oil. Discard that rice from the bottom layer. 

She's crazy with that last instruction.  The Crispy bits on the bottom are the best part!

One last Happy Diwali to you all!  Sad as I was to not have old friends with me this year on Diwali, our new friends here in Halifax added their own enthusiasms and we had a really nice evening.

Thanks to Jaymie and Ken for some new pictures!

Happy Diwali! (with recipes)

For the past 7 or 8 years, Diwali has meant inviting friends over and making very large meals.  I love everyone coming together, and George, Catherine and I would cram our apartment in New York with all the people we love and eat a lot!  I remember our first Diwali in Manhattan, driving around the East Village grocery shopping and listening to the Smiths.  Sometimes Deepa would come down from Boston, and I remember one year we tried to make paneer!

Mostly I remember everyone crammed into that tiny apartment on 2nd street eating.  I appreciated so much, that regardless of whether it was their first or twenty-first Diwali, everyone really participated in making it a festive celebration, especially Catherine and George.

In Berkeley, we've invited everyone over for a special meal, but it hasn't been quite the same.  One year, there was a conference and I came home as the party was already started.  I remember Deepa making a special Persian Love Cake for a certain someone during the POGD.  Last year we celebrated Diwal-O-ween with a little weiner dog.

I was a chili pepper. 

This year, I was looking forward to Paddy and I celebrating our first Diwali together in the same place, even though this place does not have the friends I have come to depend on.

There was a lot of cooking, and I will spread the recipes over a couple of posts (especially since I am waiting for more pictures of our little party last night).  There was a lot of cooking, and to be perfectly honest, some things did not come out very well.

(A dramatic re-enactment of the meal)

I made

Manjula's parathas
Kala channa masala
Aloo muttar gobi
Keera
Carrot Salad
Pickled Onions
Takkali Sadam (Tomato Rice)
Kesari








I won't say a lot about the recipes I took from other bloggers.  Manjula's parathas were delicious as always.  I was having a bit of a hard time getting the heat right, as many of the parathas did not puff as well as they should have.  I made my own ghee, and it came out so well!  And I definitely used a lot of ghee to keep the parathas soft after they came off the tawa.  They were a big hit.  My one recommendation for Manjula's parathas, is that you are better making four bigger parathas than the 5 she suggests her recipe makes.

For the kesari, I did not use kesari powder, but added two pinches of saffron when I added the cardamom.

Delicious!

I have to say, the recipes from Mad Tea Party were not that great.  I probably screwed up the proportions, and I definitely did not add enough salt at the final tasting.  The chole was too spicy, not hot, but just too much of the spices.  The aloo gobi tasted ok, but I should have chopped the potatoes smaller, because they did not cook as quickly as the cauliflower.  Maybe added the potatoes first and the then the cauliflower?  Anyway, mushy cauliflower, hard potatoes.  Yuck.

The Keera went really well.  As did the thakkali sadam, my mom's recipe.  I'll post the Keera recipe and the carrot salad recipe today, and post the thakkali sadam recipe tomorrow.  Hopefully I will have other pictures than these pictures of the leftovers!

Keera (spinach)
takes 20 minutes (mostly for washing spinach)
makes 4 servings


1 pound spinach, very well washed
1 tsp. urad dal (skinned and split) 
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/4 tsp. crushed chili pepper flakes, or 1 dried red chili
salt


Ok, this happens quickly, so gather all your ingredients.  Heat oil on medium high heat in a large saute pan.  When it is very hot, add the urad dal, and toast until light brown.  Add the cumin seeds, when they become brown and very fragrant add the red chili pepper.  Wait 2 seconds, and add the spinach.  It might not all fit into the pan at first.  Add salt and keep stirring, it will reduce very quickly.  Cook until the spinach is done, to your taste.  I like it barely cooked (about 1 minute once it's all in the pan) so it is still very bright green.  Paddy likes the spinach very well done, about 3 minutes.


You can also use frozen spinach.  Let it thaw (for about 20 minutes).  Cook a bit longer than you would fresh spinach.

Carrot Salad
takes 20 minutes
makes 4 servings

3 carrots
1 green chili, split lengthwise
1 tsp. mustard seeds
salt
1 lime
handful cilantro

Wash and peel the carrots.  Grate.  Add green chili and salt to taste, about 1/2 tsp.  Squeeze the juice of the lime onto the carrots.  In a small saute pan heat oil on medium high heat to very hot.  Have the lid ready.  Add the mustard seeds.  When they begin to pop, put the lid on and turn off the heat!  When the spluttering has subsided, spoon the mustard seeds out of the pan onto the carrots.  Mix it all together, and let sit for about 10 minutes.  Top with cilantro.

Carrot salad is really good with yoghurt rice and also rasam and rice.  

To all of my Berkeley and New York friends, I miss you so much!  Diwali is not the same in Canada.  Great people, good food, but not the same.

More recipes coming!

Thanksgiving in PEI

We took advantage of the thanksgiving long weekend to visit Prince Edward Island, a charming land of farms and sea coast. In exchange for playing 36 holes of golf, my boyfriend agreed we would visit Anne. I loved the books as a young girl, and have always wanted to visit. L. M. Montgomery wrote with such affection and real knowledge of PEI, that the island was as much of a character as Diana or Gilbert.

And so we saw Green Gables.

But we really fell in love with the food.

Our first stop was the Charlottetown farmer's market, where we debated whether or not to buy our weekly produce. There was a good variety, and lots of preserves, in addition to beautiful leather work, baskets, and other crafts. There were also a lot of food stalls. We wanted to have lunch in Charlottetown, so we decided not to eat at the market. BUT, we did have some amazing little doughnuts, hot now from a tiny machine!

They were so good, I was afraid they had been fried in lard. And also too afraid that I wouldn't be able to eat them to ask!

Our next meal was eh, at the Merchantman Pub in Charlottetown. All of the local produce pamphlets had included it as one of the restaurants on the island that really stressed local, fresh seasonal ingredients. The very nice red peppers did not make up for the fact that my veggie tacos were actually a burrito and not very flavorful. It was good not great.

Especially in retrospect since we had one of our favorite meals anywhere in the maritimes that night at the Pearl Cafe. PEI is trying to develop agro-tourism, stressing the number of local family farms and the availability of great produce and meat. The Pearl is one of the restaurants that I had heard about as participating in farm-to-table type cuisine. The Pearl is between Cavendish (Anne-town) and North Rustico, the major cluster of businesses on the north shore (this means, 10 businesses all spreading out from a single intersection! PEI is tiny!). It's in a gorgeous building, I heard it was a converted woodshop.

It was so beautifully decorated. Exposed beams, wood paneling, and just really nice details. Like this pretty lamp.

It was too dark to take pictures of the food or any of the other parts of the restaurant. But I will tell you a little about what we ate. It was thanksgiving, and Paddy had his first of two turkey dinners that weekend. This one had turkey and stuffing and gravy. And they were so nice to replace the creamy mashed potatoes with these delectable fried potato puffs. And there was kale and carrots, and really delicious pickled pearl onions.

I had really yummy parsnip and carrot "pasta" in a walnut pesto, that came inside a wee pumpkin. And kale on the side. By itself, it was pretty good, but adding paddy's potatoes and pickled onions made it the best veggie plate I've had in the maritimes. And then there was apple cobbler and a pistachio praline for dessert. YUM!

We also ate really well at the B&B where we stayed, the Beach House Inn. Waffles one day, poached eggs the next, and bacon at every breakfast for Paddy.

Our other great meal was at the Dunes Gallery and Cafe.

It was the last day of their season, and they had a special three course lunch to benefit an organization that put PEI farmers in touch with Kenyan farmers, and arranged exchanges between children in both places. Everywhere we went, we heard locals bemoaning the decline of agriculture in the province. I hope the farms survive, because they make amazing foods.

At the Dunes, Paddy had turkey soup to start, and I had an amazing plate of little salads. A beet and goat cheese "slaw," an amazing panzanella with tiny tomatoes, some quick pickled cauliflower, a couscous salad with peas and raisins, all topped by a big pile of really good sprouts. So many yummy tastes!

Our main courses were steak for paddy, and swiss chard polenta with a tomato and mushroom sauce.

Our desserts were sooooooo good. Very simple, an apple cobbler and a blueberry cobbler. But both were so fruitastically tasty. I would go back just for them.

We ate so well, we had to take a long walk along the shore to get ready for Paddy's second thanksgiving dinner.

Thank you Prince Edward Island!!! For giving us Anne and delicious foods. Next year we'd like to invite you all to visit PEI for thanksgiving weekend with us and enjoy lots and lots of turkey dinners. Paddy has a list of at least 5 places we didn't get a chance to go.

baby it's cold outside bread and soup

Brrrrr. It is already cold here in Halifax.

We've been baking a lot of bread this fall, inspired by Bittman's no-knead bread. I like Smitten Kitchen's write-up, that was the one that really inspired me to try the recipe. The boyfriend has particularly loved making bread, and he keeps turning out loaves, each one better than the last.


The only suggestion I can add to this now classic recipe is to use parchment paper instead of the kitchen towels! We've already thrown out two towels because they were irredeemably sticky. We've even tried this recipe with a multi-grain bread flour. Not quite as light and fluffy, but still very good.

It will probably remain our everyday bread, but I must confess, I have a new favorite. And it was because we had all this multi-grain flour that I searched and discovered this recipe from the February Gourmet (R.I.P) for Cracked-Wheat Topknots. Readers, they are delicious. We each ate three yesterday, and the remaining six today! And I have another dozen in the oven now! I made half the recipe, and used only Robin Hood Multi-grain Bread Blend as it already has all-purpose flour in it. Since the boyfriend is lactose intolerant and allergic to eggs, I used lactose free milk, Smart Balance spread, and glazed them with milk instead of eggwash. Next time I'm going to try olive oil, since I don't really like the idea of using margarine, even a glorified one.

The batch in the oven now look even better than the ones for yesterday!


Last night we ate it with a modified version of this soup, a Basque Tuscan fusion soup of kale, potato and white beans. It's for dinner again tonight.



Sorta vegan cracked-wheat top knots
adapted from Ruth Cousineau's recipe from the February 2009 Gourmet (R. I. P)

makes 1 dozen rolls
takes 6 hours

3/4 cup boiling-hot water
1/4 cup medium bulgar (cracked wheat)
1 1/2 tsp. salt, divided
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 1/8 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. warm water
2 1/4 cups Multi-grain bread flour
Large grain sea salt
All-Purpose flour for kneading

In a small bowl, cover the bulgar with the 3/4 cup boiling hot water and 1/4 tsp. salt and let stand for 40 minutes.

Proof the yeast with the honey and warm water until foamy, 5 minutes.

Heat the milk and butter (or butter substitute), just until the butter (or substitute) is melted.

Once the yeast is proofed, add the flour and the remaining 1 1/4 tsp. salt.

Drain the bulgar, and add it and the liquid mixture to the yeast/flour and stir until it is a sticky mess. Turn it out onto a surface covered with A-P flour and knead for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it is smooth.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and turn it over until it is all greased. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and leave to rise in a warm place until double, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. (nb. I let my bread rise in my oven, which I had heated to 150 (the lowest possible temperature), and then let cool. it worked really well, esp. since my apartment might as well be an ice box)).

Once the dough is risen (like christ on easter), prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Punch down and divide the dough into 12 equal-sized balls. I do this by first dividing the dough in two equal parts, dividing each of those into 2 more parts (for a total of 4), and then dividing each of those quarter balls into three more.

Take each little ball and roll into a 12 inch snake. If you greased the dough properly for its rise, than you won't need additional flour. Tie the dough snake into a knot, tucking the ends around any which way you prefer. (no two of mine look the same). Space each topknot about 2 inches apart, and let rise for another hour to hour and a half.

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

Brush rolls with milk and sprinkle with the sea salt.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until your house smells so good you can't stand it anymore.

Cool until they (barely) don't burn your fingers.

 



Tuscan/Basque white bean and kale soup
adapted from a Gourmet (R.I.P) recipe from February 2004

Makes 4 dinner-sized servings
Takes 2 hours

1/2 cup dried white beans
2 cups water
olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1 1/2 qts water
3 fresh parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 clove
1/2 pound potatoes, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/2 pound kale, roughly chopped
1 medium-large tomato, chopped
some basil

Bring beans and 2 cups of water to a boil. Turn heat off, cover, and let stand for 1 hour.

In a heavy pot (I love my le creuset knock off), saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add the smoked paprika and saute until it is fragrant.

Add the water, beans, parsley, clove, and bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, uncovered, for 40-50 minutes.

Add potatoes and kale, and cook a further 10 to 15 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, and cook another 5 to 10 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Toss in some fresh basil at the end if you have some.

Serve soup with topknots. Look, mine are out of the oven now.