Sunday, March 27, 2011

Vegetable Lasagne

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Who doesn’t love Sunday dinners? When I was a kid, my aunt Betty would sometimes call up early Sunday afternoon to invite us all over for dinner and when we arrived there would be many members of the family there, all ready for a big spaghetti dinner. The last time I went she made stuffed red peppers. I loved (still love) the last minute-ness of it all and strive to do it once in a while.


Lately my sister and I have been planning our own Sunday night dinners. A while ago it was ratatouille and barbecue chips, and I have been threatening to make a roast beef for months now. I thought about it tonight, but instead was much happier with the idea of a vegetarian lasagne.



It’s not hard, took up lots of the pots and pans, and was amazingly , soothingly delicious. The whole recipe came from my own head, and I want to share it with you.

I have never been much of a lasagne maker. I used to try and make it with Italian sausage and whole black olives and it was just way too much of a mechanical mixture to make nice smooth layers. Tonight was different though and my layers were well-defined, each bite letting you taste each different one.

Today my layers were as follows:
1. Roasted squash – peeled and sliced thinly into half moons then roasted in a hot oven for 20 minutes or so with olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Fresh spinach –washed
3. Tomato Sauce – onions cooked in olive oil until brown, add garlic. Add red wine to the hot pan, let alcohol cook out then add a can of tomatoes and some dried basil. Let cook until the consistency thickens. Last minute, add salt and pepper.
4. Mushrooms – sliced and cooked in a bit of olive oil and butter. Let absorb the liquid, cook a bit, release their own liquid and lastly brown a bit.
5. Black olives – chopped
6. Lasange sheets – cooked well in boiling water
7. Ricotta cheese and grated mozzarella

Really all you have to do is assemble it in layers that make you happy. I don’t think it matters much, but I did start with the squash, made sure the spinach was between some nice hot stuff so that it would wilt, and finished off with a layer of pasta and topped with ricotta then mozzarella. I finished it off in a 350F oven so that the top cheese layer would get crispy.


I’m not going to lie, this was really good.


My good friend Red came over and we ate and drank wine and we all had two pieces each. Red and Kristopher thought the mushrooms and olives were the best parts, they figured they added a meaty texture, while I loved the sweetness of the squash. We finished it off with a homemade lemon meringue pie that Red made yesterday and listened to Madeleine Peyroux – an excellent way to prepare for another big week.


I highly recommend you try it.


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Moroccan Stew

The Sunday after our last snowstorm in Vancouver (a few weeks ago) my sister and I went shopping downtown. The 3cm of snow on the ground kept the crowds away and we had the MAC store to ourselves so she could try on new red lipsticks. The snow also meant that there was huge puddles of water at every street corner and we puddle jumped the whole way back to her house where we arrived with very wet and in need of a warm meal.

My sister Hannah has started buying her groceries on the weekend and making one big meal on Sunday night for the rest of the week, the smart girl she is. This is the most fantastic dish to do that with as it only starts to taste better with a few days. After eating it, I promptly made it again a few nights afterwards for myself.

MOROCCAN STEW
revised from the Joy of Cooking (if you don't already own this, you must go and buy it. It makes for fabulous reading over breakfast.)

2 medium onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small butternut squash, halved, seeded and cubed
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (fresh or ground)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock and/or water
2 medium zucchini, sliced
raisins/thinly sliced dried apricots
pitted kalamata olives
lemon juice, S&P

-Heat some olive oil in a large dutch oven, then add the onions. Let cook until soft and fragrant, then add the garlic. Once they both smell good, add the squash, carrots, chickpeas and all the spices. Stir around and let cook for a few minutes - cooking the spices onto the vegetables only brings out the flavours of the spices.

-Add the dried fruit and the chicken stock and/or water, enough to cover all the vegetables, and let cook uncovered until they are soft. Add the zucchini very close to the end of this so it doesn't get to mushy but still absorbs the flavours.

-When it seems good and stew-like, take off the heat and season with salt and pepper and some lemon juice to brighten it up a bit. Finally, serve with (my favourite!) the black olives and preferably some couscous.


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There is nothing more perfect on a blustery Sunday night than to lie on your sister's couch watching the Oscars (however boring they may be...) all night with the cat, eating a fantastic meal.


Enjoy!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Barbecue Pork and Chili Green Beans

I have made yet another cookbook discovery that I can't wait to share.

Lately, I have been frequenting the local Book Warehouse during the wash cycle of our laundry afternoons (the dry cycle involves $4 bellinis at Browns Social House - a great discovery) and have been lusting over the new Donna Hay cookbook - Seasons.

Donna Hay is a food stylist/famous cook/publisher in Australia and makes the most amazing books and magazines. The photos are amazingly styled, and the recipes are simple and clean and SO GOOD. This particular book is divided into the four seasons, and each one into sweet and savoury. Australian food is just a bit different from here... Lots of grilled meats and fishes.. Maybe a bit more precious? Pretty? Kristopher claims he doesn't notice a difference. Personally, I worked for an Australian food stylist (her own blog is here) in Alberta a few years ago and I could see these influences everywhere in her food.

So, Donna Hay Seasons. I have been looking at it for so long at the book store that I finally....took it out from the library.

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I told Kristopher to chose the first few recipes we could try for dinner, and we have now made them both twice in one week.

First off, the pork. I have made the trek once...maybe twice...to Chinatown to buy barbecued pork. Have you ever done it? It's quite an experience to go into the butcher and stare at the pigs and the ducks, and be shocked by the lungs and the brains wrapped in plastic wrap. Most people are holding discussions in languages I don't understand. It's always a bit humbling to be in your own city and yet feel totally foreign and out of your element. And then you order what you want - the barbecue pork... It comes in pinky-red rimmed slices with some extra barbecue sauce and it's all you can do to keep from eating it straight from it's styrofoam container on the way home.
This recipe tastes almost identical to what you can get from Chinatown. Enough said.
And it's easy.

BARBECUE PORK
from Donna Hay Seasons

1 kg pork tenderloin
coriander seeds (1 tsp or so)
garlic
ginger
star anise
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1 cup Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup char siu sauce*

-Use a mortar and pestle to grind up the coriander, garlic and ginger.
-Add this with liquid ingredients and star anise in a big bowl and add the pork. Let marinate for at least an hour, all day works too.
-Put either on the barbecue for 15-20 minutes until fully cooked
OR
-Put on a roasting rack in the bottom of a 350F oven, marinade and all. Roast for an hour or so until sticky, caramelized and cooked through, basting throughout (that goes for barbecuers too).
-Slice to serve.

*These are the exact ingredients the book calls for. I found Chinese cooking wine easily in save-on, but it didn't carry the star anise so I left it out (but I know you can find it in other grocery stores). As for char siu sauce (described in the book as a sauce commonly used in Cantonese cuisine, including sugar or honey, Chinese five spice, red food coloring, soy sauce and sherry), I couldn't find it so used Chinese barbecue sauce that I found at a T&T market a while ago. The results were perfect!


...then you can serve it with...


THE SPICIEST GREEN BEANS EVER
this came from a recipe from the Seasons book that involved grilling a steak in a pan and then stir frying the beans afterwards. I changed it around a bit.

-Clean and chop the ends off your beans (I once lost serious marks in cooking school for not chopping the ends...but do what you like!). Clean and chop whatever other vegetables you want to fry. - I also used asparagus (in season right now!) and carrots.
-Slice an onion and begin to cook slowly in a big pan, a wok if you have one.
-Once they are soft, add the green beans (if using other veg, add the ones that will cook the longest first).
-When your beans are BRIGHT GREEN, they are cooked so add a spoonful or two of chili garlic paste (two will make it blazingly hot!) and some sweet chili sauce which will slightly mellow out the heat of the chili. Stir it all up. When its good and mixed, you might feel like adding some soy sauce for some more zing (not that you will need it...)
-Eat and feel the burn!


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So just based on these two recipes alone and a whole lot of beautiful pictures of oceans, beaches...and food, I will now be returning my copy to the library and then heading across the street to buy my own.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Keftedes - Greek Meatballs

At christmas not only did I recieve a few fantastic cook books, but also a big huge shiny cuisinart mixerfrom Kristopher! It made me cry! I had a mini breakdown while doing Christmas baking a week or so prior, I was trying to handmix dough for linzer cookies and ended up upset, throwing the dough away and probably throwing something on the floor while I was at it. I think he just wanted to avoid a repeat of that incident, so he gave me this.

It took me a while to get into it, but lately I have been trying to use it as much as possible! My favourite few things I have been super excited about making is loads of small, hand rolled/wrapped things and popping them in the freezer. I made a huge batch of dumplings during the Chinese New Year (I also got sweet and sour pork takeaway for the occaison) and there are still some in the freezer, just waiting to be steamed and dipped in soy sauce! And last night I made a huge batch of meatballs from Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes (by Tessa Kiros), this being one the most exceptional cookbooks of the Christmas gifts. It's not necessarily a run-out-and-buy-it book, but definately a look-at-the-pictures-in-the-bookstore book. The photography is absolutely beautiful, and the whole reason I wanted it. I know I have put a recipe up for meatballs here, but these ones are a bit different. I have now made them qith friends on two occaisons, and they are wonderful. They do take a while to make, but make a huge batch of them and freeze them! They are called keftedes in the book, a greek fried meatball.

KEFTEDES
From Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes by Tessa Kiros

2 slices of bread
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 pound mixed ground pork and beef
2 eggs
1 sweet apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 red onion, grated
fresh mint and italian parsley, chopped
olive oil, for frying

-Break up bread in small bowl and add the milk. Let it soak and absorb the milk, squishing it up so that is dissolves.
-Put the meat in a large bowl, add everything but the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Mix very well with your hands, then roll out into small balls about the size of cherry tomatoes. Keep them on a tray or cutting board (if going to freeze, on baking tray lined with parchment).
-To fry, pour about 1/2 inch of olive oil into large nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs in a single layer and cook in batches. Fry until golden brown. Try not to fiddle with them too much or else they will fall apart.
-Remove and place on a plate lined with paper towels, and eat them with lemon juice, tzatziki or humus.

That's what the recipe says, but alternatively if you don't want to fry them fully, fry them in just a little bit of oil and then put them into the over, OR fry them a little bit and then cover with a tomato sauce or something and let that simmer, which will cook the meat.

See how handy a mixer comes in? It grates too!

καλή όρεξη!!! (Google told me that means enjoy your meal in Greek).

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Lastly, once again I have made the apple cake!! I will never tire of such an easy, delicious beautiful recipe. Please make one for yourself.