Here’s a yummy, pretty and easy party appetizer. There’s a mixture of sweet and salty pickles and olives, and a sweet grape to finish it off.
What you need:
pitted olives
sweet pickled onions
dill pickles, sliced into rounds
sweet grapes
wooden skewers
What you do:
Skewer everything starting with the grape. That way the last flavour will be sweet one.
In the middle of winter it’s nice to be able to grow something. These photos show some scallions I bought and cut to cook with and then let them grow back. The brown part at the very base of the scallions in the bottom photo shows where I cut them; all of the green in new growth. This is about 10 days growth, but I’m going to let them grow a little more before I cut them again.
All you do is:
1. Put the cut scallions in a bowl, glass or vase with some water.
2. Rinse the bulbs and roots daily and add fresh water.
Wait for them to grow so you have more fresh scallions to cook with.
Sometimes I add a little sugar to the water. I’m not sure if this speeds up or helps the growing process in any way, but it doesn’t hurt. I’ll have to do a side by side test sometime to see if it makes a difference. Let me know what works for you!
A little while ago I posted a recipe for my Mom’s borscht. While this is a great soup recipe, I recently found out it’s not actually her recipe. Oops! So this is really my mom’s borscht recipe; it’s on the same page of The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, the bible of Mennonite cooking. The real difference is that this one has a can of tomato soup; not very old-world traditional, but it’s the yummy soup I grew up with. A lot of people think borscht has beets, but the beetless version is part of the Mennonite culinary tradition.
My mom makes a few changes when she cooks it: she doesn’t always use potatoes, and she usually adds some carrots. As well, she doesn’t use cream, but adds yogurt while serving.
It is best to make the broth a day ahead of time so it can cool, and the fat can be removed.
What you need:
2 lbs of beef meat and bones (or a combination of beef and chicken)
1 large onion, chopped
1 small head cabbage
3 carrots, chopped
a few tablespoons of fresh dill
1 can tomato soup (I used Campbell’s)
salt to taste
plain yogurt for serving
What you do:
1. To make the broth, cover the bones and meat with cold water and bring to a low simmer. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Strain the broth and let it cool. Remove the meat and pull it into bite-sized pieces. Put the meat and broth in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
2. Remove the cold fat from the top of the broth and discard it. Pour the broth into a large pot and bring it to a low boil.
3. Add the chopped onions, meat, cabbage, carrots and dill and let it summer until the vegetables are tender.
4. Add the tomato soup and let it heat, then add salt to taste.
5. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.
This soup freezes well, and makes a big batch for leftovers or for sharing.
For breakfast I usually eat a bowl of fruit and homemade yogurt. It’s so delicious, but I find sometimes it’s not enough to get me through the morning. I haven’t made granola in ages, so I thought this would be a good time to rework an old recipe. I’ve used maple syrup for a little sweetness, and a bit of olive oil to make it nice and crunchy. I think the amount of sugar and fat are quite reasonable, especially when you look at the fat and sugar content of commercial granolas. The nuts themselves have a high fat content, but it’s a healthy fat, and one of the reasons why serving of granola should be small.
What you need:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
What you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 300F.
2. Combine the oats, almonds, pecans, walnuts and salt in a large bowl. Add the oil,maple syrup and vanilla to this and combine thoroughly.
3. Spread this mixture evenly on a baking tray. Bake for 2o minutes.
4. Add the pumpkin seeds and coconut to the baking tray and combine with the other ingredients. I like to add these later in the cooking process so they don’t get too toasty.
5. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. You will want to watch it towards the end of the cooking time, just in case your oven in running a little hot. The granola should be a golden colour, but not browned. I think it tastes burnt when it gets browned.
6. Allow to cool completely on the baking tray, then store in an airtight container.
Recently I had a craving for a Thai peanut chicken I remembered making many times a few years ago, but for the life of me I couldn’t find the recipe. I finally realized that it was in a cookbook I gave away in one of my purges of my book collection before moving apartments. Thankfully I was able to find the book at the public library and I able to make the recipe once again. It was as good as I remembered it; a little spicy, and the chicken tender and tasty. I made a lot more broccoli than the original recipe called for, and I served it on brown rice.
This recipe comes from Charlotte Solomon’s Thai Cookbook.
What you need:
1 kg chicken breasts and/or thighs
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 teaspoons grated fresh or frozen ginger
1 tablespoon red curry paste
2 tablespoon peanut oil
1/2 cup spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, finely chopped, or 2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar (or palm sugar, if you have it)
1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)
1 cup coconut milk
3 cups broccoli florets
What you do:
1. Cut each chicken breast in half. If you are making brown rice you can start it now.
2. Combine the garlic, ginger and curry paste and coat each piece of chicken with it. Let the chicken sit for at least 20 minutes.
3. Heat the peanut oil on medium-high heat, and add the spring onions to the pan. Stir them for a few seconds, then remove them from the pan.
4. Add the chicken to the pan and cook until each side has browned.
5. Add the peanuts, sugar, fish sauce and coconut milk. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
6. Steam the broccoli.
7. Serve the chicken over rice with broccoli and top with sauce and spring onions.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Last summer I was fortunate enough to visit France for a third time. If I had been on my own I might not have tried French hot dog, but because I was traveling with my sweetheart, Corey, I was tempted to take a bite of his hot dog. He had ordered one, and I thought it would be just like the ones at home that I don’t enjoy, but this one looked so good. It was made on a baguette, with a European wiener, with mustard and grilled cheese. The toasted baguette was crusty, the wiener was of a much higher quality that Ameri/Canadian wiener, and the gooey grilled cheese made it magnifique!
My friend Justin Cathcart recently filmed me making French hot dogs (pronounced ‘ot dogs), and worked his magic with his amazing production values and inspirational direction! Check out what he’s done!
Everyone who tries my mom’s trifle says it’s the best, so naturally when I was looking for a trifle recipe for Christmas Eve dinner, I asked her to share her recipe with me. She gave me a photocopy of a recipe that looks like it came from a magazine. It says it is from The Best of Mme Jehane Benoit, who is apparently Canada’s Julia Child.
Rather than using fruit, which my mom says makes the cake layer too soggy, this recipe uses jam. Of course there’s the sherry, custard, and whipping cream – so good and so bad all at the same time! It’s not very difficult to make, but you do need to make it ahead of the time so the sherry, jam and pudding can soak into the cake. It’s nice to serve this in a glass bowl so you can see the layers. You could also make it in individual dishes, but I like the way it is beautifully layered andthen becomes a beautiful mess of creamy, jammy goodness when it is served.
Hmmm, I think there’s some leftovers in the fridge…
What you need for the cake: (or just buy a sponge cake)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups sifted flour
1 & 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1 teaspoon almond extract
What you need for the other layers:
4 eggs yolks
2 cups half and half cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup sherry
toasted almonds to garnish (optional)
What you do:
1. To make the cake, beat the eggs with the sugar for about 5 minutes, until it is very light in colour.
2. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt, and lightly beat it into the egg mixture.
3. Briefly mix in the water and almond extract. Pour into a greased 9 by 11 inch pan and bake for 30 minutes. Allow the cake to cool completely.
4. To make the custard, beat the egg yolks until they are pale yellow. Heat the half and half cream with the 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla. Add the egg yolks to the hot cream, beating very hard. Cook without boiling, stirring continuously, until the custard has thickened a little. It won’t be a thick custard, but this is good because it will soak into the cake easily. Allow the custard to cool.
5. Whip the cream with the icing sugar.
6. I like to remove the seeds from the jam because I don’t like to bite them or get them stuck in my teeth, but you don’t need to do this step if you don’t mind the seeds. I just press the jam through a sieve with a spatula.
7. Spread the jam over the cake, then cut it into finger-sized pieces. Dip each piece in the sherry (or just place it in the sherry bowl and sprinkle sherry over the top.)
8. Make a layer of the jammy sherried cake fingers in the bottom of the bowl, with the jam side facing up. Spread half of the custard over the cake layer, then spread half of the whipping cream over the custard. Repeat with another layer of cake, custard and cream.
9. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Top with toasted almonds, if you wish, and then indulge in creamy goodness!
Butternut squash soup is perfect for cold winter days, and the maple syrup and sherry make this recipe especially tasty. I like to bake my squash because I think it tastes sweeter that way, but if you prefer you can boil it, and use the cooking liquid to thin the soup at the end if you need to.
What you need:
butternut squash, about 2 lbs
olive oil
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 ground cloves
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
about 1/4 cup maple syrup
about 1/4 cup dry sherry
salt, to taste
What you do:
1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Place the cut side down on a baking tray and bake at 350F for 25 minutes, or until it is soft.
2. While the squash is baking, heat a little olive oil in a large pot and add the chopped onions and peppers. Cook on low heat until the vegetables are softened.
3. When the squash is soft, scoop it out of the shells and add it to the pot. Then add the herbs and broth and bring to a boil. Cook on low heat for about 20 minutes, then remove from the heat and puree until it is smooth. Add some water if you need to thin it out a bit.
4. Add the syrup, sherry and salt to taste.
This one tastes even better the next day!
If you love ginger, these are for you! Even with three kinds of ginger, they aren’t overwhelming, and are a favourite of several of my friends. They aren’t difficult to make, although you do need to plan ahead because you need to put them in the fridge for a few hours, or over night.
What you need:
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 & 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 tablespoons grated ginger (I keep mine in the freezer)
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/4 cup white sugar for dipping the cookies
What you do:
1. Cream the butter and sugar.
2. Beat in the molasses and egg,
3. Sift, then stir the flour, ground ginger, baking soda and salt into the batter.
4. Stir in the grated and crystallized ginger.
5. Refrigerate for about 2 hours, or overnight. If you have it in the fridge over night, take it out about 20 minutes before you want to roll them.
6. Form into balls with your hands, about 1 tablespoon each, and slightly flatten the ball. Dip the tops of each cookie in the white sugar, then place it on a parchment-lined baking tray.
7. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350F.
Let them cool on a rack when they are done. Store in an airtight container and put any in the freezer that you won’t be eating in the next few days, if you wish.
With the holiday season comes a lot of parties and dinners, and a good excuse to try out some new recipes. Searching for cranberry dessert recipes, I saw this one on Lotti + Doof and thought I’d give it try – and I’m so happy I did. It is moist, and the sweetness of the caramel, and tartness of the cranberries work really well together. I made it in a cast-iron frying pan, but you could make it in a cake pan. It took about twice as long to bake as the recipe said, but since I’m just learning about how my new oven works, I’ve listed the original baking time.
What you need:
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (1/2 and 1/4 for separate parts of the recipe)
2 & 3/4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole or homogenized milk, room temperature
1 & 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon
vanilla
What you do:
1. Melt the butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar in a 9 inch cast-iron frying pan, stirring, until it begins bubbling. Let this cool. (If you don’t have a frying pan this size, just make the caramel in another pot, then pour it into your cake pan.)
2. Cook the cranberries and orange juice in a small pot until the cranberries begin to pop. Pour the cranberries over the cooled caramel.
3. Beat 1/2 cup butter and the granulated sugar until it is fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.
4. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add 1/3 of it to the batter, then 1/2 the milk, 1/3 more flour, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour. Mix only until the flour is combined.
5. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites, then fold in the rest.
6. Pour the batter on top of the cranberries and smooth the top of it down a little.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350F. The cake should be a little browned and pull away from the sides of the pan. I also tested mine with a toothpick, which told me I needed to bake for a lot longer.
8. When the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and let it rest for about 15 minutes. Then run a sharp knife around the edge and invert it onto the serving plate.
Yum! Enjoy!
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