Squash season!

Before I get started with my recipe this week, if you're feeling like you're not making the most of your herbs, don't forget about my herbed rice recipe.  I made home-made GMO free falafels the other night and stuffed them in pitas with rice that was cooked with cilantro, parsley and a splash of lime juice.  It's as simple as just chopping it up, tossing it in and letting it sit for a minute and serving.  Brightens up rice so quick and easy!

 

 

Butternut squash are one of my favorite foods.  It's such a toned-down version of squash, but with that smooth, creamy texture that makes soups and roasted squash so good, and autumn one of my favorite times of year to cook.

The other thing I like about this recipe is that it showcases apples, which at this time year are so fresh and so good.  And although I don't usually stress too much about the price of food at the grocery store I can't be the only one who has noticed the price of apples has jumped significantly over the last few months.  That's why I love September and making our annual trip to Beamish's Orchards- the only organic orchard on PEI!  We stock up and the apples last so long and are so crisp and like summer-in-fall good.

One butternut squash, peeled and diced
2-3 crisp apples, diced.
1/2 cup nuts (almonds, walnuts or whatever you like)
a small handful of chopped parsley

Toss diced squash with: 1/4 cup oil
                                        2 tsp. honey
                                       salt and pepper
Spread squash on baking sheet, roast at 300 degrees until tender, but not too soft (30 mins-ish).
Allow to cool.
Combine with other ingredients.
Whisk together:
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. balsalmic vinegar
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper if needed, to taste.

Toss is all together.
The one fault of this salad is that there's a fine line between letting it sit to soak up the flavours of the dressing and having things turn slightly less bright.  Although I've had it sitting in the fridge overnight now and the flavour has gotten better and the apples are still crisp and the nuts still crunch, so I have no complaints.

I think next time I will add some finely chopped onions, or maybe try some different herbs.  It was really too heavy to be a 'salad' in my view, but was a delicious savory dish I will keep in my recipe box for a side to a chicken soup or something warm and cozy.

-Sally

Red Cabbage, Lentil and Walnut Salad

 So I made this post almost a week ago and then forgot that I hadn't actually posted it.  So, sorry Jen and anyone waiting for a new recipe.  And now since I've discovered that it didn't make it, I've since made more batches of roasted tomates and cauliflower soup, so I caught a couple pictures to go with last week's post (or two weeks ago now).

 Gorgeous tomatoes, drizzled in oil, nestled with garlic and ready for action!

 With my subsequent batches I discovered that more than 5 hours is actually better because all that liquid that seeps out of the tomatoes concentrates and makes things thicker.  There was no need for a slotted spoon with my other batches because the liquid had become more of a paste and was soooo flavourful!  I now have a few batches frozen in ziploc bags in the freezer, ready for tasty sauce this winter.

 

This is just a picture from when we were making the Cauliflower Soup I posted last time and I thought this shot of my carrot cutting fairy was too cute not to share. Everyone should have one of these kitchen helpers that flutters in to lend a hand! :)

 

So onto the recipe!

I realize that red (or purple) cabbage may not have been in your share this week, but I doubt if I'm the only one who had a cabbage in their crisper from previous weeks that would look at them each day and say, "are you going to eat me today or what?"  This recipe is for you and it couldn't be easier.

Dressing: 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

                1 tbsp. dijon mustard

                2 tbsp. olive oil

                salt and pepper

Salad:

         1/2 red cabbage, chopped fine(ish)

          1 15oz. can lentils

         1/2 shallot, chopped extra fine

         1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted if you have time.

         a handful of raisins (this is very optional and not in the original recipe, but if you'll notice, raisins are the bacon of salads around here and usually mean that everyone will at least give something new a try).

The recipe also called for 2 cups arugula, but I left that out.  It would certainly add some pretty green, but my kids have adapted my arugula aversion (yes, I know it's my fault), so we left it out.

   

This salad is crisp and the dressing is bright.  It was better after some of it sat in the fridge overnight and cabbage is great for maintaining its crispiness so would be a good potluck recipe.  You could of course cook raw lentils, but Eden Organic has really good canned lentils in the health food section and they're a pantry staple for us around here.

Now, since I've finally posted this one and it's already time for another one, I've got a great new butternut squash recipe coming up for this week.  Stay tuned shortly!

-Sally    

Roasting and Soup, autumn is here!

This has been Lucy's first week of kindergarten and although she's striving in the environment, she brought home the inevitable first cold to everyone in the house so my meals have been slightly lacklustre in the creative department and more focused on the warm soups and comfort food.  I also failed to take any worthwhile pictures so you'll have to use your creative mind and just imagine my two offerings this week.

   Didn't get a picture of the food because I was too busy getting a picture of my little kindergartener!

Again, with a Jamie Oliver recipe, adapted slightly for the sake of fewer dishes and simple ingredients.  The proper Oliver title is "Cauliflower Cheese Soup" but for the sake of my cauliflower-resistant kids, I just called it Cheese Soup.  They like cauliflower, but only raw, so this soup is a great way to stretch it a bit farther and get it onto their menus.

Like most good soups it starts with a simple mirepoix of carrots, onions and celery, cooked down until the carrots are starting to soften and the onions are golden.  Along with the mirepoix, add 2 cloves garlic and a large head of cauliflower, separated into rough florets and cook all together for about 10 minutes.  Add enough broth to cover the vegetables and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Here's the important part: Add a good big handful of cheddar cheese and a good squeeze of mustard.  Now puree the whole thing (immersion blender is perfect tool for this.)
Serve with some nutmeg. 

I think the mustard is the kicker in this one, and making sure it's pureed well.  I really love this simple soup and with some crunchy croutons or some bacon bits, this is the perfect lunch on these cooler, wet days of September.

Picture-less recipe #2 is a new one for me, but so far, I LOVE IT!

I've been stock piling some tomatoes for this Slow Roasted Tomato recipe.  It's so simple, but the roasting adds such a richness to the tomatoes I'm having a hard time deciding how to use them to make the most of them.  I think I'll keep it simple and combine with some of Jen's amazing basil and some good quality parmesan over home-made pasta.
Anyway, it's as easy as preheating the oven to 250 degrees.  Half or quarter tomatoes according to size and place cut side down on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil.  Distribute the cloves from one head of garlic around the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt.  Roast for 5 hours or until tomato skins start to get too dark for your liking, although keep in mind that you will pluck the skins off anyway (and they literally pluck right off leaving the perfectly roasted tomatoes).

You can do this recipe and take them out after only 45 minutes- 1 hour, but the extra roasting adds so much flavour.  I got nervous about burning at the 4 hour mark so I took mine out then, but once they cooled and I picked the skins off I realized that I probably could have left them in longer.  Then I just used a slotted spoon to scoop half of them into a dish for the fridge and half into a freezer container so I could have a taste of summer during those dark days of winter.

Back in living colour next time!

-Sally

You say paste, I say PESTO! (with my best Italian accent)

You will notice a few recurring themes in my cooking.  Pasta might just be the most common one.  It's easy, quick and a serious crowd pleaser in this house of majority young children.  Because we eat pasta so often (3 times a week at least) I usually buy in bulk from Speerville Mills and get 5 kg of organic "veggie spirals" which are made with vegetable juices for added nutrition (and colour!).  The kids don't know or care, but I like knowing that the red colour in my food actually comes from beets and not a numbered bottle somewhere along the line. 

 

Anyway, once again I bring to you a pasta dish that can be made in 20 minutes, and that also uses Jen's amazing broccoli.  Is it just me or does her broccoli have wayyy more flavour than any other, ever?  I'd even use the word 'strong' to describe it, which doesn't usually come to mind with that sad broccoli I get at the grocery store in the winter.  Broccoli is a universal favorite here and generally gets snapped up the minute it comes in the door (with some dip of course-the Lighthouse brand organic ranch dressing is soooo good! REAL chunks of tiny onion!), but I managed to tuck some away for this recipe, that I've played with a few times and haven't really failed at yet aaand it uses the whole head of broccoli, not just the florets.

It's a pretty close adaptation of another Jamie Oliver recipe, with a few changes.
I call it Broccoli Pesto Pasta.  (I'm no linguist, but I want to believe that the word pesto doesn't have anything to do with basil and is rather some italian root word for paste?)  So maybe I should call it Broccoli Paste Pasta.  Not quite the same eh?)

• A couple small heads, or a big head of broccoli, separated into stem(s) and florets.

• 1 can of anchovies OR a large squeeze of anchovy paste (I finally found some at the 'new' Sobeys in Charlottetown). It would sound more appetizing to call it 'anchovy pesto' wouldn't it? ha!
• good pinch of dried chili flakes
• 3 cloves of garlic (or more if you like)
• Jamie Oliver recommends heaped tbsp. capers, but they aren't an ingredient I keep on hand, and I didn't miss them, but if you've got 'em, toss some in!

Blend the broccoli stems and these ingredients together, setting the florets aside for now.  The food processor should make a nice paste (or pesto!) with this.  The can of anchovies would have oil in it, so I added a good glug of olive oil when I used the anchovy paste instead.Once you have a nice paste, add it to a good sized pan on the stove with another good glug of olive oil and a splash of water to loosen it up.  Heat on medium while the pasta finishes cooking.  (If you've got thyme around add some of that to the pan as well.)
At the last few minutes of pasta cooking time, add the broccoli florets to the pasta water.

Drain it all, but keep a little of the pasta cooking water if you can, in case you need it to loosen up the pesto.
Add the drained pasta and broccoli to the pesto pan and toss. 
Add a really good pile of parmesan cheese and toss some more, adding that cooking water if need be. 
I've got this new obsession with bread crumbs and I found adding a handful of fine breadcrumbs during the last toss really added some nice texture.

 

I've made this without the anchovies and the capers and it was still quite good, but not nearly as good as when I included our fishy friends.  Bacon would be a fine substitute if you're not ready to get on the anchovy train just yet.
 The key is the garlic, chili flakes and parm.  The broccoli has so much flavour that everything else is really secondary.

Enjoy!
-Sally 

 

Gadzukes!!!

You're going to start to wonder why I didn't call this blog "Real Zucchini. All day. Every day." and for someone who has been luke warm to the zuke before this year, I am surprised at my own enthusiasm for this favorite summer squash.
So today, for the last time (I promise), I have just a couple more zucchini recipes to share.
The first is a basic chocolate zuchinni cake. You can Google chocolate zucchini cake all day long (and I encourage you to explore), but here's one of my old faithfuls, if you don't want to spend any time searching. Best Ever Deep Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I used the proper Dutch cocoa from the Bulk Barn and it does add a little extra element of flavour.  This is not an overly sweet cake, but my favorite kind of chocolate is the 70% cocoa, dark kind, so it suits me just perfectly.  For my less enthusiastic dark chocolate lovers, I made a quick ganache to go on top, that I just dipped the cupcakes in and let sit until cool.  My ganache was basically just what I had on hand, which was 2 oz. of bittersweet chocolate and as much cream as I could skim from one jug of our jersey milk (sorry I can't be more specific on that measurement, but a good splash of cream will do it.)  Melt together and let sit until cool enough to not drip, but warm enough to dip. Add a pinch or two of sugar if it's not sweet enough for you.
Jen mentioned freezing zucchini, pre-shredded in the right measurements and that's a fantastic way to take this diverse ingredient into the cold, short days of winter.  And if you think these cupcakes look good now, imagine how great they'd be about mid-February! 

For my last zucchini recipe, it's one I threw together myself, so the measurements, again, will be lacking.  (Sorry Jen, I know that makes you crazy. haha.)  I made it a kid project in the hopes that they would be more interested in eating them, with some success.  They certainly enjoyed helping cook them at least.

Crispy Zuke Pucks

Zucchinni, sliced into discs, at least 1/4 inch thick.
Bread crumbs, or crushed organic cereal
Spices of choice (cayenne, paprika, dill, salt, pepper, garlic, etc. etc....let your spice rack speak to you)
1 egg, beaten
Dip of choice (we used tomato sauce)

 

Slice, dip in egg, dip in bread crumbs, fry until crispy on the outside, and soft when pierced.

My only tips would be to make sure you have a hot pan to ensure good crispiness and to slice them thick enough that they have time to get crispy without getting too mushy in the middle.  And don't be afraid of lots of seasoning.  There isn't much about zucchini's nature flavour to conflict with other flavours, so have fun with the bread crumb mixture.  And the finer the dry mixture, the better.   A food processor is one of my favorite kitchen tools.

I can't wait for next week. I've got an awesome broccoli recipe that uses the whole head, stem and all that I want to share.
Enjoy the zucchini now because although when it rains it pours with zukes, there does come a dry season when you just might find yourself missing them.

-Sally

  

Insert Clever Title here...

I've been a bit slack in the recipe department lately, so I'm including a couple in this post.  The first is all veggies. The second focuses on chicken and zucchini. Enjoy!

Growing up, I was under the impression that Hodge Podge was a New Brunswick thing, but I suspect that like many things claimed to a specific province, it's more regional and likely a 'PEI thing' as well.  In any case, if you happen to not be familiar with Hodge Podge, there really isn't an easier way to enjoy the simplicity of good quality, FRESH summer veggies.

 

Basically you just boil any summer veggies you want.  I did a fairly classic Hodge Podge here and included potatoes, carrots, beans and an onion, adding the quicker cooking ones, like beans, near the end.  It's a good idea to cut everything into bite size pieces, as cutting things with a soup spoon at the table can be annoying for everyone.  

So just barely cover the veggies with water, boil until tender crisp.  The water amount is sort of crucial because too much will mean too much broth in the final product, so you might want to strain off a bit, once you're happy with the cooking.

The important ingredients are a cup of milk (or cream!) and a couple tablespoons or butter.  Serve hot with salt and pepper.  And bread for sopping up broth. :)

 

 Once again, I failed to take pictures of this next recipe during the cooking, but I at least managed to snag a shot of the final product, along with a picture of the kale salad we all love. :)

I found this video of this recipe from Canadian Living, but I couldn't imagine ever cooking something that would require that many pots and pans or that much shifting food around.  So my version uses many of the same ingredients, but with a lot less work.  (And I've discovered that left-over chicken works just as well- if not better because it's easier!)







So... Sally's Quick Zucchini Chicken Bake

-Cook 1 chopped onion and 2 cloves minced garlic in olive oil in a large skillet, until golden.  (If you're using raw chicken, add it here, in dice-sized pieces and cook nearly through.) 
-Add 2 chopped zucchini, along with a shake of oregano and some basil and cook briefly, about 3-4 minutes (don't let it get mushy!). If using left-over chicken, add it along with the zucchini so it has time to pick up some of the flavours, but not so early it gets dried out and sad. haha.
-Add half a jar of tomato sauce to the skillet and stir in.  Top with some cheese and bake until bubbly. 
-I served it on rice, but most anything or nothing would do just fine.

Zucchini is easy to dismiss as a boring vegetable, but it's so versatile and underappreciated that I feel obligated to promote it.  Enjoy the underdog!!

-Sally

Fancy Leftovers

So, if you haven't noticed, I don't really do fancy food.  And not just because of my sub-par food photography.  Partly due to my circumstances of many (un)helpful hands, usually limited time, multi-tasking and the simple requirement of making many nutritious meals per week, my food tends to be fairly utilitarian and purposeful.  Like many other parts of my life, 'fancy' does not climb the ladder of priorities very often.
But I've been in love with these heads of gorgeous lettuce for a while now.  In fact, last year, I half-joked with Jen about starting an eco-wedding business, using organic, edible products for decorations, etc. etc. and I thought that the colourful head lettuces' should be the centrepieces of the bouquets.  So it's been an ongoing love story and I've been looking for ways to honour the 'fancy-ness' of the sweet little inner leaves of the heads.

Thankfully this also incorporates leftover chicken, since my chicken CSA members were 'blessed' with larger chickens this week and I'm sure are looking for ways to use up some of the leftovers.
Continuing the theme of love, this recipe comes from my honeymoon in Scotland.  We had stopped by a little cafe for lunch one day and I had been trying to order something I'd never had before at every meal so I asked for the Coronation Chicken (which might show some of you how sheltered I am, since it's not all that unknown) and loved it!  So this is my take on what I remember from that lunch (apologies for more curry recipes-I warned you though!).

Coronation Chicken served on Lettuce Leaves
Leftover chicken, chopped up
Mayo
Curry powder
Green onion, or small regular onion, diced small
Raisins
1/2 Apple, peeled and diced small
Pinch of sugar
Salt and Pepper

So it's basically chicken salad, with curry.  But better.  And I hate including quantities because I think a lot of what I cook is 'to taste', so I want you to add as much of whatever ingredient, as you like.  Add enough mayo until you're happy with it and then add curry powder until you like the flavour. Stir in some raisins and add more if you want more, etc. etc.  Typically we have it on bread or crackers but as long as I have some of Jen's bib-like head lettuce, we'll have it on that.  I especially like those smaller, silky inner leaves, so I'll usually use the outside leaves in my regular salads and save the inside ones for this.  The kids call them chicken boats and Mark and I enjoy knowing it's even better for us, without the bread.  They make a really nice addition to a potluck table and take plain ol' leftover chicken to a higher place.

I've been away from my kitchen for a bit, but I'm back now and eager to show you one of my favorite zucchini recipes (also incorporating fresh or left-over chicken...coincidentally...:).  I will get some pictures taken and posted in the next day or two, so come back soon!

-Sally