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Fried Green Tomatoes with Yogurt Dill Sauce

A branch, heavy with green tomatoes, fell off my plant the other day.  I took it as a sign that I was to make fried green tomatoes.  Now that I’ve tried them, I want to go pick some more tomatoes before they ripen so I can make some more.

What you need:

a few green tomatoes

1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

salt

pepper

egg

olive oil

For the sauce:

plain yogurt

fresh dill

What you do:

1.  Slice tomatoes about 1 & 1/2 to 2 cm wide.

2.  Crack the egg into a medium-sized bowl and mix with a fork.  In another bowl, place the breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.

3.  Coat each tomato slice in egg, then breadcrumbs.  You’ll need to turn them over a few times, and press the breadcrumbs down a little to get a thicker coating on.

4.  Heat a frying pan to medium, then add a little olive oil.  When it’s hot, add the tomatoes.  Cook them for a few minutes on each side.

5.  While they are frying, mix up the yogurt and a little dill in a small bowl. I prefer yogurt that isn’t low-fat; the flavour is better, and I don’t feel the need to add sugar.

Enjoy them hot with a little sauce on the side.

Oma’s Dill Pickles

Mmm, there’s nothing like biting into a crisp, cold pickle out of the jar.  I prefer homemade pickles, so I can make them a little less salty than the commercial ones, and a little spicier.

The main thing to remember when pickling is to keep everything clean to get rid of any bacteria.  To do this you can boil the jars in a canning pot, put them in the oven at 250 F for 20 minutes, or run them through a hot dishwasher.

What you need:

canning jars (20lbs of pickles makes 20-24 jars – prepare more jars and lids than you think you need)  Make sure you only use proper canning jars; reused jars like commercial jam or peanut butter won’t seal properly.  You can reuse the rings from year to year, but you need to use new lids so that they will seal properly.

lids

rings

large canning pot

Ingredients for 5-ish jars:

5 lbs pickling cucumbers

8 cups water

1 & 1/2 cups pickling vinegar

1/4 cup pickling salt (I couldn’t find any and used kosher salt this time)

1/2 cup sugar

dill (stems and flowers, not the green feathery parts you cook with)

horseradish

5 hot red peppers (thai work well)

5 cloves garlic

Here’s how you do it:

1. In each jar place some dill (I used one flower head and stalk cut up), a slice of horseradish, one pepper cut in half (don’t cut it if you don’t want the pickles to be very spicy), and one clove garlic.

2.  Cram as many clean cucumbers in as you can.  I usually start with a few big ones, and save the smaller ones to fit in between and on top.  Leave about 2cm of space between the cukes and the top of the jar.

3.  Heat brine to boiling, and make sure the water in the canning pot is boiling.

4.  Place new lids in a pot of water to heat for  a few minutes.  This sterilizes them and softens up the rubber, making it easier to get a seal.

5.  Fill each jar with brine, leaving a bit of space.  Place the lid and ring on each jar right away and tighten.  The canning pot I use fits seven jars, so I only filled seven at a time.  Place the jars in the canning pot, put the lid on and keep on high heat for just a few minutes; you don’t want to cook the pickles, so if it starts to boil you should remove them.

6.  Find a place where you can leave the jars untouched for 24-48 hours.  My Oma and Opa always put a towel on the top and bottom, so that’s what I do.

7.  Over the next day or so you’ll hear that popping sound that lets you know that your jars have sealed properly.  You can also tell they are sealed because the lid has curved down slightly, and it makes a high-pitched sound when you tap it with a spoon, instead of the dull sound of an unsealed jar.  If you happen to have one jar that doesn’t seal,  just keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

8.  I usually wait about three months before I open my first jar.  After your first try at making these, you’ll get an idea of what you want to change to make the recipe suit your tastes.  Feel  free to comment and let me know what you did differently.

Some adaptations I’ve tried are:

no garlic

more or fewer peppers

a slice of carrot or yellow bean for colour

mustard seeds

Here’s a great link for canning info!

Lemon Tahini Chickpea Salad

This salad is so easy to make, tastes amazing, and has lots of nutrients tp keep you healthy!  Chickpeas have plenty of dietary fibre, vitamin B6, folate and manganese.  One third of a cup of sweet red peppers contains your recommended daily intake of vitamin C, as well as lots of vitamins A and E, B6, folate and many other nutrients!

What you need:

1 can chickpeas, rinsed

1 sweet red pepper, sliced into bite-size pieces

1 tablespoon red onion, chopped finely

1/4 cup loosely packed chopped basil

2 teaspoons olive or flax oil

1 tablespoon tahini

1/4 teaspoon cumin

juice of 1/2 a lemon

optional: fresh mint

What you do:

1.  Mix the oil, tahini, cumin and lemon juice.

2.  Put the chickpeas, onions, pepper and basil in a bowl.  Mix in the dressing.  Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

3.  Before serving, chop up some mint and place on top of the salad.

Nut Crusted Portobello Mushroom Appetizer

These mushrooms are full of flavour!

What you need:

2 portobello mushrooms

1/2 cup ground almonds

2 tablespoons grated parmesan

salt

pepper

1 egg

olive oil

What you do:

1.  Place ground almonds, cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl.  In another bowl, crack the egg and beat it up a little.

2.  Remove the stems and clean mushrooms with a damp cloth – if you clean them in water they will absorb too much water.  Cut the mushrooms into strips, a few centimetres wide.

3.  Coat each mushroom strip in egg, then the almond mixture.

4.  Heat a frying pan on medium heat, then add a little olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms.  They should not be overlapping.  Cook on each side for a few minutes, until they become golden on all sides.

5.  Serve them on their own, or with a bit of mayo on the side.

Ruby Swiss Chard and Cabbage

My quest to find tasty ways to cook cabbage has recently combined with a sudden influx of ruby swiss chard in my garden, and this recipe is the result.  It doesn’t taste or smell very cabbagey, so if you’re picky about that sort of thing, you might still like this.

You need:

1/2 sweet onion

a bunch of ruby swiss chard

1/2 a green cabbage

butter (olive oil for vegans)

salt and pepper

fresh tarragon, optional

What you do:

1.  Slice onions and fry on low in a little butter for 3-4 minutes.

2.  Remove the stalks from the swiss chard and chop them into 3-4 cm long pieces.  Add the chopped stalks to the onions and cook for a few more minutes.

3.  Once the onions and chard stems have started cooking, put about 1-2 cm water in a separate pot.  Bring it to a boil, add the cabbage, put a lid on it, and steam for 2-3 minutes.  The cabbage should be tender but not soggy.

4.  Chop the swiss chard greens.  When the chard stems and cabbage have both cooked, add the swiss chard greens to the pan with the onion, then put the cabbage on top of the green.  Add a little butter, salt and pepper, and toss it all together until the greens have wilted.

5.  Mmm.  Eat up!

Chocolate Dipped Chocolate-Almond Biscotti

And the people thus spake, “We have tasted of this New Biscotti, and it is good.”

And so, upon the day of the Feast of Lights at English Bay, many ate of the biscotti and were satisfied.

Thus it came to pass that the people proclaimed the recipe to be of high quality, and henceforth deemed worthy of the masses.

And so it shall be revealed unto thee:

What you need:

1 & 1/4 cups peeled almonds, toasted

1/2 cup butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 & 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon almond extract

for the chocolate dip:

5oz chocolate

2 tablespoons butter

What you do:

1.  Use a coffee grinder or food processor to finely grind toasted almonds.

2.  Mix 1/2 cup of the butter and 1 cup of the almonds, along with the salt, until it is fluffy.

3.  Whisk eggs, sugar and almond extract in a large bowl.

4.  Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder and hand-mix into the egg mixture.

5.  Add the nut and butter mixture, and stir until it is just incorporated.

6.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and form the dough into two long, flat logs. I like my biscotti to be a bit smaller, so if you want larger cookies, then make one log and add about five minutes to the baking time.

7.  Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.  When it comes out of the oven, allow it to cool on the pan for about half an hour.

8.  Slice the logs into cookies, and put them back on the parchment paper.  Bake for 15 minutes more, then cool on wire racks.

9.  Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler (I use a pot with a bowl on top).  The key here is to make sure you don’t get any water into the chocolate; it will seize up and become clumpy.

10.  Dip each cooled biscotti in the chocolate (I had to spread it on a bit), then sprinkle a little of the remaining almond flour on top of each.

Cool Cucumber Salad

This salad is great for a hot summer day when you want something light and refreshing.  And a great way to use those cucumbers you’ve got coming up in the garden!

What you need:

cucumber

2 red or green hot chillies, thinly sliced, seeds removed if you don’t like too much spice

sweet red pepper, very thinly sliced

freshly toasted peanuts, chopped

1 small package rice noodles, vermicelli style

for the dressing:

2 tablespoons unsweetened, shredded coconut

1 tablespoon boiling water

2 teaspoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

What you do:

1.  Put a pot of water on to boil.  Use this to cook the rice noodles: after the water has boiled, take it off the heat and add the noodles.  After a few minutes, when the noodles are al dente, strain them and pour cold water over to cool them.  Set aside to continue cool.

2.  Add one tablespoon of boiling water to the coconut, then stir in the brown sugar.  Leave this to cool, then add the lime, vinegar and soy sauce.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

3.  Toast peanuts in a frying pan, being careful not to burn them.  When they are cool, chop them up.

4.  Chop peppers finely, and use a vegetable peeler to make long slices of cucumber.

5.  To assemble the salad, first put down some noodles; make sure they have been well-drained.  Place some slices of cucumber on top, then pour on the dressing.  Add some sweet peppers, peanuts and hot peppers.

6.  Enjoy your refreshing salad!

Optional toppings include grated carrots, cilantro, tofu or some shaved beef, if you feel the need for some meat.

Lemony Kale

Easy, good for you.  Need I say more?  Oh yeah, it tastes great too!

You need:

garlic cloves, sliced

olive oil

kale

lemon juice, fresh squeezed

What you do:

1.  Slice 1-2 garlic cloves per person.  Heat olive oil in frying pan on medium heat.   Add garlic, and fry briefly.  It should not turn brown.

2.  Cut the leaves of the kale off the stems, and chop roughly.  Add kale and stir, adding a tablespoon or so or lemon juice.  The kale will begin to wilt, and it will be ready to go!  It should be bright green and fresh looking when it is, finished cooking, which only takes a few seconds.

3.  Eat it right now, while it is still warm and fresh!

Kale is an anti-oxidant, and is a good source of beta carotene (good for the eyes), vitamin C, lutein (also good for the eyes), calcium, and has cancer fighting properties.  It’s a superfood!  So eat up!

Blueberry Flax-Bran Muffins

This tasty muffin recipe uses Omega 3-rich flax seeds, which are a great way to lower cholesterol.  Plus they provide, along with the bran and blueberries, a great dose of fibre.  And blueberries – besides being delicious, contain antioxidants and vitamin C.  Did I mention these muffins also taste good – you can’t go wrong here!

It is important to use ground flax seeds so you can access their benefits; the chewing and digestive processes are not enough to break down the seeds.  You can buy them ground, or grind them yourself in a coffee grinder.  They are best stored in the fridge after grinding, so they do not become rancid.

You need:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup bran

1/2 cup ground flax seeds

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

2 eggs

1 cup milk (soy is good too)

2 Tablespoons molasses

1/4 cup butter

What you do:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400F.

2.  Stir dry ingredients  in a large bowl.

3.  Melt butter, then mix in the milk slowly, so the butter doesn’t harden when you add cold milk.  Add molasses.  Pour the liquids, along with the slightly beaten eggs, into the dry ingredients.  Mix by hand only until the ingredients are combined; if you mix more you’ll get tough little muffins.  Gently mix in the blueberries, so they don’t break and you don’t over-mix.

4.  Place mixture in muffin tins lined with paper baking cups.

5.  Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.  Take muffins out of tins and cool on a rack for a few minutes before eating.

6.  If you freeze them, make sure they’re completely cool before they go in the freezer.

Quick Lemon Pasta

Looking for ways to use up my bumper crop of arugula, I made up this easy pasta dish.  You can easily substitute the arugula for fresh basil; just use a little less.  It’s a super fast meal to prepare!

What you need:

Pasta (I used brown rice spaghetti by Tinkyada)

fresh lemon juice

parmesan (I use lactose-free l’Ancetre)

arugula or fresh basil

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  Cook the pasta in lots of water.

2.  Squeeze lemon juice, about 1/2 a lemon per person.  Mix it with a tablespoon or two of parmesan per person, a big drizzle or olive oil, and salt and pepper.

3.  Chop arugula roughly and place in the bottom of a bowl.  Place hot pasta on top of the arugula so the arugula wilts a tiny bit from the heat of the pasta.  Pour the lemon mixture over top and mix it all up.

4.  Enjoy!

lemon block print