Cooking Simply for a weeknight dinner Guest.

We had a lovely dinner with a friend last night.  A couple of weeks ago we ran into her and her boyfriend at a local restaurant. My husband  and I had only known her casually through yoga, as some one you saw, recognized but did not speak to. The restaurant where we had our encounter was one that was dedicated to fresh, local, and sustainable food. This we thought was a sign. We loved food, they loved food, we loved yoga, they loved yoga, we are an American/Canadian couple, they are an American/Canadian couple, etc. So we made tentative plans for dinner. It turned out that he was leaving for a month and that she would be our only dinner guest this *time*. So we thought we would make it a simple affair (I am hoping that our screaming 3 yr olds who were in a form not seen since the days of Carol Anne in the movie Poltergeist last night did not scare her off).   


We (I cut and chopped, husband cooked) made a winter minestrone from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food:Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution.  Here is the adapted recipe.

Winter Minestrone with Root vegetables and Cabbage

• 1 1/2 cups cannellini beans with 1 cup cooking liquid
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lg finely chopped onion
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1tsp dried thyme or 5 sprigs fresh
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp salt plus more for seasoning
• 3 cups of water
• 1 sm leek, diced
• 1/2 head of cabbage, thinly cut, boiled in salt water until softened
• 3/4 lbs bite-sized diced turnips
• 1/2 lbs bite sized dice yellow potatoes
• 1 cup cooked small pasta, such as confetti (optional)* I made my own from the left over dough I had by cutting in strips and then making tiny squares (optional. Alice Waters' recipe does not call for it) 
• parsley leaves, grated parmesan cheese & olive oil for garnishing

In a large sauce pan or stock pot, heat olive oil, cook carrots, celery and onion until tender (sweating but not browning). 


Add in garlic, thyme, bay leaf and salt, cook another five mintues. Add water and when at a boil add leek, turnips and potatoes, cook for 15 minutes and taste for salt. 


If using, about 10 minutes from finish add dried pasta** (you may have to add some more liquid to make up for the absorption of the pasta). 


Add cooked beans (and fresh pasta** if you are using) plus bean liquid. Cook for 5 more minutes. If soup is thick add more bean liquid.


Remove bay leaf, serve in individual bowls and garnish with, parsley, grated parmesan cheese and drizzled olive oil.


** We used fresh homemade pasta, so we briefly cooked it separately to remove excess flour and added it in towards the end.




photos by me.

A better wife.

Meal time hasn't been very exciting lately. My husband and I have been burnt out, him with writing his thesis and me with the babies- at some point they became terrorists and I find myself navigating all sorts of mine fields, booby traps and doing my level best to avoid possible conflict. Which is hard, you never know what their list of demands are going to be and they never agree amongst themselves. If one is appeased the other is sure to be flailing about, stomping his or her feet and throwing something. I have reverted into a safe place; the kitchen. The meals have been reflecting the state of the home, the mood and the weather. 

World's Best Braised Green Cabbage

From 'All About Braising' by Molly Stevens.

•  2 lbs of green cabbage, remove bruised and wilted leaves, sliced into 8 wedges
• 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
• 1 large carrot cut into 1/4 in rounds
• 1/4 cup water or stock (veggie or chicken) * it is such a small amount I used water.
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and Freshly ground pepper
• 1/8 tsp crushed chili flakes or to taste* optional

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly oil a gratin dish or baking dish/sheet with high sides.

Arrange cabbage wedges on the the dish/sheet, scatter carrots and onion over. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle, salt, pepper and chili flakes.

Cover with tinfoil and bake in oven for 2 hrs. After an hour turn the wedges, keeping together as best as you can. Add additional water if if the braise is drying out.

Once cabbage is completely soft, remove the foil, increase oven to 400 degrees, (At this point you can add a small amount of balsamic vinegar to make the cabbage sweeter, Molly Stevens recommends 1 1/2 tbsp, turn wedges with tongs to distribute) and brown for 15 minutes longer. 

Sadly we do not get to eat this today- my husband is working late on his thesis and I will pick him up and we will go out for dinner. If I was a better wife I would have the chicken roasted, potatoes mashed, a salad made and a Manhattan for him the moment he walks in the door. Luckily for me the braise is suppose to be even better ttomorrow.

Serve it either at room temperature or popped it back into the oven at a moderate heat for about 20 minutes the next day.

photos by me.

Elements of Dinner

My father had come for a short visit a day before we were to have guests over for dinner. He had  brought with him a new cookbook about slow cooking. As my husband and I have an extensive cookbook collection, the last thing I needed was to browse through another book, but hey why not? It was there and my dad was very proud of it. 


One of the recipes was for cabbage rolls made with ground nuts instead of ground meat. I haven't had  cabbage rolls since becoming a vegetarian. I had been racking my brain trying to figure out what to serve our guests for dinner and here was the answer. Not only was it vegetarian but we had all of the ingredients. I didn't have to buy anything, plus I could make it ahead of time. Yay, Dad! Oh, but one thing... not only haven't I eaten cabbage rolls since I was sixteen but I have never made them. And as everyone knows you are never suppose to make a recipe for the first time when expecting company. Hmm, it's only a suggestion.


The recipe prep time promised to be 25 mins and cook time 3-4 hrs.  Easy Peasy. Except for chopping and grinding took far longer than 25 mins and then I had to deal with the cabbage leaves. Dad to the rescue again, good ol'farm boys know their way around produce. I think the recipe, even though it didn't say, wanted napa cabbage or similar variety, with leaves that come away easily from the head. I had a nice tight round head of green cabbage and the leaves did not peel away from it  at all. What to do? Boil it. Dad also taught me another trick, freezing the individual leaves so that they lay flatter when they thaw. 


Even though the recipe took far longer than suggested it was worth it. My little rolls stayed nicely packed through the cooking process and were a hit with my guests (who did not have high hopes when they found out they were vegetarian).


The other element of dinner was a fresh ricotta and beet salad- You can make many simple cheeses by combing acid, salt and heat at different  intervals. With Ricotta which is what I made, you add citric acid, salt optional,  to milk, heat and drain. With paneer you heat the milk and add acid such as lemon juice just before it comes to a boil then drain and press. 


For a general whole milk ricotta I follow Ricki Carroll's (no relation) recipe from Home Cheese Making


What you need: thermometer, heavy bottomed sauce pan, cheese cloth or better yet if you can find it butter cloth and a mesh colander.

• 1 gallon whole milk
• 1 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water
• 1 tsp cheese salt (optional) *I was out of cheese salt but you can lightly salt afterwards.

Add the citric acid to the milk, heat in a heavy bottomed sauce pan slowly and stirring constantly to prevent scalding to the bottom.Heat  between 185f and 195f (do not boil). 

*Around  175f the curds begin to separate and the whey will become noticeably clearer.

Remove from heat, set aside and do not disturb for 10 mins.

Ladle curds into doubled over cheese cloth lined colander, tie corners together.  Hang until you get desired consistency, about 30 mins.

As a note, other porous fabrics can work, I used a cotton dish towel, but had to hang longer. I also save the whey, for either whey ricotta (but you need quite a lot), for some types of baking and or soups. The whey is very protein rich.

photos by me.

Restaurant Rant... The Naam

The Naam

I was craving healthy food with fresh vegetables, tofu and the likes after a weekend of sinful eating, so I decided to go to the Naam  as it is  consistently  voted the best vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver by various local magazines and weeklies. It must be said that there are only a handful of these types of restaurants and voters get the same three choices year after year. 

When I walked through the door the sign said "Please Wait to be seated" So I did and after a few minutes a server came to me handed me a menu and said "sit where ever you want". Hmm... Why did I wait? Another server followed me to a table of my choice (there were only two that were available for a single person) and asked me if I was ready to order. Hmm... I hadn't even opened the menu yet. He promptly turned away from me before I responded. That was the last I saw of him for over 30 minutes. After reading the menu, deciding what I wanted and reading a paper including the classifieds I finally got his attention again. I had to strain out of my seat and say excuse me as he passed through the section. He actually looked at me in disdain- like I was interrupting him from doing his job. Finally after getting to order, my meal took an additional 10 minutes. Not too long of wait and about what I expected. 


Maybe it is decadent of me, but I want to have some mummy time once a week, I do yoga, get a quick lunch and run some errands. I don't laze over lunch or dawdle running my errands but it is nice to take a few minutes for myself each week and eat a meal that I haven't prepared myself. 


I ordered the Naam's version of Thai noodles. Basically pad thai noodles in a sweet and sour sauce, with tofu, cabbage,carrots, peppers, sprouts and peanuts.  The portion was huge. There is no possible way one person could eat that much food and if they can, they shouldn't. For some reason restaurants such as this one think you are getting good value for your money if you make the portion size super sized?! No, I want quality ingredients, good flavour and thoughtful portions. What I know of the Naam is that they use organic ingredients where they can, compost, and try to be sustainable. I may be wrong, but is not counter productive to be so wasteful? Faced with the immense plate of noodles that was my lunch I checked the time and reasoned that I would not be getting to all of my errands today, I would have to consolidate and prioritize.


My lunch  had some residual heat possibly from sweet thai chili sauce but all in all it was flavourless- unless you count the vinegar that wafted up from the plate. There was ample cabbage - and why not? It is cheap, hard to over cook and has a good crunch; a nice contrast to the soft (mushy) noodles. The other vegetables with the exception of the carrot were hit and miss and the tofu was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But I was hungry and had no time for anything else so I ate a reasonable sized portion, requested to take the remainder home and asked for my bill. Figuring how long it took to order in the first place I immediately got out my card, put my jacket on and collected my things. I was pleasantly surprised when he came back in a few minutes with a to-go box in hand, maybe my exit would be quicker than I thought. No such luck. He informed me I had to go to the counter to pay with debit with a nod of the head towards the kitchen... sure no problem. 


Bill in hand I made my way to the counter, where there was another couple standing waiting to pay. We waited five minutes for some one to acknowledge us, even though there was staff standing in the kitchen door 5 feet away.... There goes another errand that I can't do. 


All in all I spent over an hour there for a meal that I had to consume in 10 minutes. The phrase time is money, comes to mind. I am paying a babysitter to steal some time for myself and want to get some things done. It is insulating to me that this institution does not value my patronage enough to consider that while they are being ironic and cool they are wasting my time.  Maybe I am missing something but I can safely say that this is the last time I will go to the Naam. I have had this experience one too many times and will no longer give them the benefit of the doubt. I truly do not understand why it is consistently voted Vancouver's best. I have never had a meal there that blew me away, was in any way revolutionary or profound and the service has always been slow. And yes, the left overs were terrible, ending up in the garbage.

Kimchi: a follow up

When I did  research on the brined Korean staple, sources suggested that the first written mention of Kimchi was in the Chinese poetry tome Sigyeong 1000 BC. Sadly though I could not find any English translations. Instead I thought I would make my own. Not Korean or Chinese but a Japanese Haiku, the Japanese also have a long tradition of using Kimchi. I have not written a Haiku since middle school when we first learned about the complex form of poetry. This doesn't promise to be any better than my grade seven attempt but here goes. My ode to Kimchi

Kimchi

Deep green cabbage kept,

Turning, rancid rank, odiferous,

Eating winter treat.

As for the Kimchi that I made, I would have to put into the "not bad at all category". Saying that though, I have no idea what it should taste like. I have only ever had it once or twice before over a span of a decade. Thus my experience with the culinary treat it very, very limited. The first word that comes to mind is "funky", I could literally taste the fermentation in my mouth. The version I made did not include fish sauce as it appears it wasn't all that common in the first Kimchi's.  "Chimchae" an early version of Kimchi is translated as vegetables in salt and later the "dongchimi" vegetables pickled in salt and water. Less strongly mingled with the funky flavour was the salty brine and an intense heat from the ground peppers. The very last note I detected was smokiness but that is because I had some dried chipolte hanging around.

I will definately play around with this Kimchi; I am finding lots of recipes that use it as an ingredient, also I have three jars in my fridge and I think I will be the only one in my family who will eat it.

Recipe copied from Yoga Journal and adapted from:

Quick and Easy Korean Cooking, by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee

(Chronicle books, 2009)

quick kimchi

2 Napa cabbages (I used 1 Napa & half a Chinese cabbage)

1 medium daikon radish

1/4 cup coarse salt

1 up water

4 gr. onions, cut into 2-in lengths

7 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbs minced or grated ginger

2 tbsp Korean chili powder 

(available at most (mine did not)  Asian markets, I used 1tbsp regular chili powder 

& 1 tbsp fresh ground peppers that I had)

1. Rinse cabbages and cut crosswise into 2-inch lengths. Peel and cut lengthwise into quarters about 1/2 in thick the daikon.
2. Dissolve salt in water, place cabbage and daikon in large bowl, cover with salt solution and soak for 6 hrs or over night (I soaked mine for 36 hrs, after the first 24 hrs it smelled of rotten eggs)
3. Drain vegetables, reserve liquid. Return cabbage and daikon to bowl and add in remaining ingredients. Mix Well. Pack mixture into glass jars, slowly pour reserved liquid over top, leaving 1 inch space on top. Cover tightly.
4. Place jars in cool dark place for 2 to 3 days, depending on how pickled you like your Kimchi (I left mine for 3 days). Refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

photo by me.
oops can't count syllables. 

• Down to one jar- a friend ate 1/2 a jar by herself and took another home....I guess I  won't be the only one eating it. (11/07/09)

Raw Slaw and Ribbons

Each week my family gets a grocery delivery, not because we are lazy but because we have twins, it is one of those time saving strategies that we have come to depend on. Small Potatoes Urban Delivery or spud for short brings us our staples such as milk, bread, yoghurt , and an assortment of organic produce in a Fresh Harvest box.  Spud tries to include local seasonal veggies, organic fruits and some basics. At this time of year the two things we get a lot of are cabbage and carrots. At any given time I can open my fridge and find a head of cabbage in my crisper just waiting for the next braising. But the other thing that happens at this time of the year is, we get  caught up in harvest feasts and forget that many of these foods can be eaten raw. With that in mind I set out to make a simple raw salad of cabbage, carrots and raisins. A naked slaw. Then dressed with a nutritional salad dressing adapted from the Hollyhocks Cooks recipe book. 

Yeast Dressing

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (brand such as Red Star)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup tamari (soy sauce)
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp crushed garlic (or if using a blender 1-2 whole cloves when mixing ingredients together)

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix for about a minute until everything comes together. With blender running add slowly,

• 1 1/2 cup canola or other light vegetable oil (avoid olive oil as the flavour is too strong).

This makes a large quantity but gets used up quickly.

Put in a squirt bottle the babies can do it themselves; and anything that they can do "me do" themselves is usually a hit. The dressing is a new family favourite as it can be used on salads, dip for plain raw veggies and a sauce on soba noodles or rice. 

One last thing- I have a new favourite tool called a Y peeler- it makes pretty transparently thin ribbons of most vegetables. To paraphrase Jamie Oliver "never a dull salad again".

photos by me