Category: sauces

Seedy Tahini Coleslaw

seedy tahini coleslaw - trust in kim

I’m a sucker for a coleslaw – as long as it’s a healthy one; no mayo for me! Okay, so I love the mayo ones with sunflower seeds, but… I think it kind of defeats the purpose of eating healthy cabbage, to load it up with mayo.

So this recipe has no mayo, but it is still creamy and loaded with flavour. I made some and ate it for leftovers for days, and enjoyed it every time.

What you need:

  • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 large orange, freshly squeezed
  • 4-5 Tbsp Tahini
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp chili powder or 1/2 tsp cayenne (used a freshly ground dried guajillo pepper)
  • 1 Tbsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 medium head of green cabbage, chopped into thin strips
  • 1/ small sweet onion, chopped
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds, black and/or white
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

What you do:

  1. Combine the dressing ingredients, from apple cider vinegar to salt.  I find it works best to put the tahini in a bowl, then add a little liquid to make a paste, then a little more liquid, and then the rest of the ingredients.
  2. Combine the dressing with the cabbage and onion until every bit of cabbage is coated in dressing. Let this sit in the fridge for an hour or two.
  3. Toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan until they are lightly browned.  Crush them with a mortar and pestle or in a grinder; this allows you to digest them better. Toast the pumpkin seeds.
  4. Serve the salad with some seeds sprinkled over top.  Do this at the last minute so the seeds remain crunchy.

I found the recipe here.

Spinach Salad with Glory Bowl Dressing

spinach salad with glory bowl dressing - trust in kim

This is my favourite salad dressing.  It is a really simple salad, but so good, and makes me wonder why anyone would buy a salad dressing.  This dressing is so perfect on spinach, and it makes a great side to almost anything.

What you need for the dressing:

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon tahini

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/3 cup vegetable oil (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup canola)

What you need for the salad:

spinach

mushrooms, thinly sliced

What you do:

  1. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a blender, or use a stick blender to combine.
  2. Dress your salad with a few tablespoonfuls of dressing. The remainder of the dressing can be refrigerated for a few weeks.

Homemade French Onion Dip

french onion dip - trust in kim

I try to avoid bringing a veggie platter to a party – not because I don’t love my veggies.  I Love my veggies! But I also love to bake, and a party is usually a great excuse for me to bake something.  When I recently ended up agreeing to bring a veggie platter to a party, I began looking for something to make it special. Then I came across this recipe . . .  This dip is a great low-fat alternative to the usual sour-cream based dip.  It is a homemade version of the standard from my childhood, French onion soup mix and sour cream.  It’s a bit of work to chop and then caramelize the onions, but the flavour is so worth it.

I found the recipe on crumbblog.

What you need:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1&½ cups finely diced red onion
  • 1&½ cups finely diced yellow onion
  • 1&½ cups finely diced sweet onion
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1½ cups plain yogurt (see homemade yogurt recipe here)
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp lemon juice or more to taste
  • dash of Worcestershire sauce

What you do:

  1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan (my cast-iron one worked great for this) at medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes, or until they are just starting to colour.
  2. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking for 20-25 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the onions are golden brown and caramelized.  If the onions get too dry at any point add a tablespoon or two of water to avoid burning, and continue cooking). Stir in the garlic, salt and pepper and cook another minute or two.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, then whisk in the yogurt, lemon and Worcestershire until smooth. Stir in the cooled onions, salt and pepper to taste.
  4.  Put the dip into a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to two days to allow the flavours to mingle.
  5. Serve with veggies or chips.

Tip: Peel and cut your own carrots for your veggie tray. They will taste so much more like… carrots.

homemade french onion dip - trust in kim

Guacamolata – Avocado Sauce

guacamolata avocado sauce - trust in kim

When I was in the Yucatan earlier this year I found a lot of places serving this runny avocado sauce with their tacos and some other dishes like eggs and fish. It is creamy, yet without any dairy.  When I took a cooking class at Altamar Restaurant in Tulum, the chef told me the ingredients for the sauce, which he called guacamolata.  Last night I was making several salsas to serve to company, so I gave this one a try.  It’s a nice light tasting sauce that doesn’t overpower the rest of the food you are drizzling it on, and a pretty colour too! People who aren’t into spicy foods will appreciate this option.  I served it with a spoon in it so that people could drizzle it on the chip they had dipped into the spicier salsa, to take a bit of the power out of the spice.

What you need:

1 ripe avocado (you know it’s ripe when you can press the little stem in easily – it should still be somewhat firm)

2-3 tablespoons chopped onion (I also used some grilled onion)

2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

juice of 1/2 lime

water to make it runny

salt to taste

What you do:

1. Put the avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice and some salt into a bowl.  Add a little water and use an immersion blender to blend it together (or put it all in a blender).  Add more water until it is a very smooth and somewhat runny sauce.  Taste and add more of whichever ingredient you think it requires.  For serving with fish you can add more cilantro.

The sauce retains its green colour even if you don’t use it right away, so you can store it in the fridge for a few days.

Here is a picture of my breakfast at la Bruja on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, with some of this avocado sauce.
Here is a picture of my breakfast at la Bruja on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, with some of this avocado sauce. 

 

 

 

 

Apricot Jam

apricot jam - trust in kim

This summer my friend Connie visited from Ontario and brought a delicious jar of homemade apricot jam.  It was so delicious on toast, and amazing as a glaze for the apricots in this Apricot Almond Cake. I can easily say that apricot jam is my favourite of all the jams, and yet I’ve never made it before.  Since my sweetheart loves it as much as I do, I searched many produce stores to find apricots this late in the summer, (actually a few weeks ago now), and managed to find a few pounds.  Connie sent me her recipe, and I cooked up a batch.  Love the colour, love the smell, and I’m looking forward to tasting it all winter long!

The recipe is proportional, about 3 parts fruit to 1 part sugar.  I’m writing the amounts I used, but you can experiment depending on the amount you are using, as well as the flavour in your fruit.  Sometimes they need a little extra (or start with less) sugar or citrus.

What you need:

12 cups pitted and chopped apricots

4 cups white sugar

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

canning jars, rings and new lids

What you do:

1. Chop the apricots up into small pieces and put them into a large pot with the sugar and citrus juices.  Bring to a low boil and skim off any foam.  Let it cook, stirring often,  on a low simmer until the mixture has thickened.  To test how thick your jam will be when it has cooled you can put a plate in the freezer.  Just drop a little jam onto the icy plate and let it cool, then give it a push with your finger to see if it is thick enough.  If not, just keep cooking it for longer.

2. Preheat the oven to 225F.  After washing your canning jars, put them in the oven for at least 20 minutes to sterilize them.  Heat a small pot of water for your lids to sterilize them and soften the rubber ring.  Just a note: it’s not a good idea to re-use the lids (the rings are fine to re-use though) because they may not seal properly.

3. Once your jam is ready pour it into the sterilized jars, keeping the edges of the jar clean so you will get a good seal.  Put a lid and ring on each and tighten it. My mom and Oma always put a tea towel over the jars until they seal, so that’s what I did.  You’ll hear the lids ‘ping’ as they seal.  I try to keep track of how many pings I hear so I know they’ve all sealed.

I used some jam in this recipe for warm peaches and yogurt.

Tomatillo Salsa

tomatillo salsa - trust in kim

Here’s another recipe I got from the awesome cooking class I took in Tulum Mexico with Eric Fischer at Altamar Restaurant.  It’s not too spicy, and you can alter that by adding more or less pepper.  I served it with Mexican Barbecued Chicken, and it is also great on tacos.  The key to the flavour here is roasting the tomatillo, onion and chili peppers over a flame; I did this on my gas stove, but a barbecue works great too.  You can keep this in the fridge for a few days.

What you need:

500 grams tomatillo

1 small sweet white onion

20 grams cilantro

1 jalapeno and 1 banana pepper

20 grams garlic

2 grams salt

2 grams black pepper

olive oil

What you do:

1. Roast the onions over a flame, turning often, until the outside is blackened and the inside is soft, about half and hour.

2. Roast the peppers until blackened then put them in an airtight container for about 15 minutes.  Remove most of the skin along with the stem.

3. Roast the tomatillos until they are lightly blackened.

4. Put everything into a blender and mix well.

5. Preheat a pot then add some olive oil and cook the sauce for 7-10 minutes.

6. Allow the sauce to cool, then store it in the fridge.

Turkey & Zucchini Burgers

Snapseed

The other day the sun was shining, so we wanted to make something to go on the barbecue.  We ended up frying these turkey burgers on the stove-top because we wondered if they would hold together on the grill.  In retrospect, after we let them sit while waiting to cook them, they ended up holding together quite well.  I would recommend oiling the grill really well if you’re going to barbecue them. The original recipe, in Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenhi, says you can get 18 burgers out of this recipe.  When he says burgers, he means tiny little meatballs 9which would probably make a great appetizer).  If you are making a real burger, the kind with the regular-sized bun, you can make more like 4-6 patties.

Now, about the taste – so good! So juicy! And healthier than a lot of other barbecue options. The sumac and sour cream sauce is excellent.  The original recipe doesn’t have green onions in it, but I had a happy accident when I added the green onions meant for the burgers to my sauce instead.  So feel free to make the sauce with or without green onions.   I also used only yogurt in my sauce; use 1/2 cup sour cream and 2/3 cup yogurt if you want to follow Ottolenghi’s recipe.

What you need for the burger:

500 grams ground turkey

about 2 cups coarsely grated zucchini

3 thinly sliced green onions

1 large egg

2 tablespoons chopped mint

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

sunflower or vegetable oil for frying (unless you grill)

hamburger buns of your choice; I used focaccia buns

What you need for the sour cream and sumac sauce:

1 cup Greek yogurt (just strained some of my homemade yogurt)

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1 & 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sumac

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

2 green onions, chopped (optional)

What you do for the sauce:

1. Mix all the ingredients together and set aside until needed, refrigerating if it’s going to be a while before you use it.

What you do for the burgers:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the meat patties, except for the oil for frying.  Mix with your hands and form into patties.

2. If you are pan-frying, preheat the oven to 425F. Pour a little oil into the pan, heat over medium until hot, then add the patties. Sear each side until it is nice and brown, then put the pan into the oven (or on another surface if your pan can’t go into the oven) and let them bake for 5-7 minutes.  In the meantime you can be toasting your buns, if you wish.

3. Serve with some of the sauce on top, and a salad on the side. Some options are found here and here.

Check out this posting if you want to see how to re-grow your green onions.

Chili Guajillo Salsa

chili juahillo sauce - trust in kim

I learned to make the most amazing guajillo chili sauce at a cooking class at Altamira Restaurant in Tulum, Mexico. Chef Eric Fischer showed us how to make this, and we tasted it with shrimp tacos and nopal cactus empanadas.  I recently served it with Mexican barbecued chicken, rice and beans, and it was awesome. The chef said it is also great if you spread it on chicken and bake it, or on seafoods such as shrimp, squid, mussels or scallops, and then serve it on pasta.

What you need:

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons finely minced garlic

salt and pepper

1/2 cup white wine

2 dried guajillo chili peppers, cut into strips

1/4 cup parsley finely chopped

What you do:

1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, then add the garlic.  Move the garlic around so it doesn’t burn, and add a big pinch each of salt and pepper.  When it starts to just get brown around the edges, add the wine.  Add the chili strips  – I removed the seeds from one pepper, and it was medium- hot, so you can add more or less of the seeds depending on your heat tolerance. Let this simmer for a few minutes.

2. Remove from the heat and put it in a blender with the parsley, or use an immersion blender, as I did. Taste and see if you think it needs more salt.

This should be kept refrigerated until you plan to use it, and should last a week if not more in the fridge.

Mexican “Mother” Sauce – salsa fresca

salsa fresca - trust in kim

I’ve made the classic salsa fresca, or pico de gallo, many times before. This recipe is very similar, but I got it from a cooking class I took at Altamira Restaurant in Tulum, Mexico with chef Eric Fischer.  He called it the Mexican Mother Sauce, because it goes with everything. The thing I learned about salsa fresca from his class was that you don’t use the tomato seeds; not a big deal, but ends up being way less watery that way.

What you need:

100 grams tomato, diced, without seeds

50 grams sweet white onion, diced

5 grams cilantro, chopped

50 ml lime juice

2 grams serrano chili, finely minced

a large pinch each of salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Put everything in a bowl and stir it up.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate until you use it.

Serve with tortilla chips, or on the side of a meal with beans and rice.

Fish Cakes in Tomato Sauce

cod cakes in tomato sauce - trust in kim

This popular Sephardic recipe from Syria comes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook. I would have never thought of serving fish cakes in a tomato sauce, but it works really well, especially over rice.  And it’s excellent for leftovers.

I used tilapia instead of cod, and it was delicious.  The first time I made it I had a hard time keeping the cakes together while they were searing, but I think the trick is leaving them to cook on one side without touching them until that side has browned well.  Once I did that I had no problem. You could make the tomato sauce ahead of time to make preparation simpler.

What you need for the tomato sauce:

2 & 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 & 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon coriander

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

1-400 gram/14 oz  can chopped tomatoes (I used canned cherry tomatoes)

1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, chopped coarsely

salt and pepper to taste

What you need for the fish cakes:

3 slices white bread with crusts removed (about 60 grams)

1 & 1/2 lbs cod, tilapia, halibut, hake or pollock

1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

30 grams flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

30 grams cilantro, finely chopped

1 tablespoon cumin

1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 extra-large eggs, beaten

4 tablespoons olive oil (for frying)

What you do:

1. To make the tomato sauce, begin by heating the olive oil in a very large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and spices and cook until the onion is soft, about 8-10 minutes.  Add the wine and simmer for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, chile, garlic, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then add freshly ground pepper and more salt if you need it. Keep this simmering so it is hot when you add the fish to it. (If you’re making rice, you could start it now)

2. To make the fish cakes, begin by putting the bread in a food processor and making bread crumbs, then place in a bowl.  Chop the fish up very finely and add to the bowl along with all of the other ingredients except the olive oil.  Mix it all together with your hands.  Form the mixture into cakes about 8 cm in diameter and 2 cm thick.  You may need to refrigerate them for about 1/2 an hour to firm up a little.

3. To begin cooking the fish cakes, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat in a frying pan, then add half of the fish cakes, searing  for a few minutes, until quite browned. Carefully flip the cakes and brown the other side.  Place the seared fish cakes in the hot tomato sauce and then sear the other half of the fish cakes.

4. Once all the fish cakes have been placed in the tomato sauce, add about a cup of water (or white wine) to cover the cakes partially.  Cover the pan and simmer over very low heat for 15-20 minutes. Remove the lid and turn off the heat about ten minutes before serving to let the cakes settle.

I liked them when they were served hot, but the cookbook says they are good at room temperature too.  Serve over rice or with bread to soak up the sauce, and garnish with a little mint or cilantro.

trust in kim - fish cakes