Turkey Stuffing

There are so many recipes and traditions for turkey stuffing and many families have their own tried and true ways of making this essential part of the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey dinner.

I have found numerous recipes that I love and then I put the magazine aside and cannot remember where it is when it is time to make the stuffing.   No turkey dressing that I have made has ever been exactly the same.  Probably most of us are like that - we just make it with certain ingredients and then add a few extras each time.

 Bacon is one of the essential ingredients as far as I am concerned, but this year because we had some guests who do not eat any meat accept fish, adding bacon was not to be.  Smoked paprika is an option then because it has a hint of the bacon flavour without being meat.    Interestingly enough, the stuffing this Christmas tasted really great, and while I don't remember the quantities of any ingredients, I am writing down what I put in so at least I can try it again!!

Finely chopped large onion and 2 minced garlic cloves sauted in olive oil and butter (a good amount of butter).
Add finely chopped celery and cook until onions become clear.
Add finely chopped fresh rosemary, thyme and sage, salt, fresh ground pepper and a little smoked paprika.
Let them saute for a bit so the flavours really begin to mingle.
Add some vegetable broth and let the broth absorb these flavours now too and after about 10 minutes of  simmering slowly, add the juice of 1/2 lemon.
Now add this mixtures to your bread cubes (old focaccia bread works great)
Butter your casserole dish and place the stuffing into it, and have it ready to cook when the turkey comes out.
Some of the stuffing was in the bird but then the casserole dish stuffing ensured that the non meat eaters could still enjoy this dish too.
And besides....we always want lots of stuffing for leftover turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwiches!!
Leftover stuffing is even excellent in a turkey style shepherds pie with stuffing on the meat/gravy mixture and then mashed potatoes on top of that.

Cups of Tea and Spaces of Sanctuary

A majestic view of mountains and the lake, tea served with a silver tea service, a rest stop off the road:
Ingredients that created a special moment of  sanctuary.  Sanctuary, with this view, was about being in a place that was sacred, where deep memories were held.

On a recent road trip through the Rocky Mountains we headed towards Lake Louise for a rest stop.  The true ‘stop’ came when we settled into lovely arm chairs in front of huge windows on the palatial main floor of Fairmont’s Chateau Lake Louise.   Only a few people wandered through the gorgeous wide halls of this stately hotel as it was a quiet time of year.  Summer was passed, autumn was about to move on and the winter ski season had not yet begun.  It was the perfect time for us as we made this a place to take a break on the long journey.   We ordered our respective types of tea and were so delighted when it arrived with such elegance.   Hot cups of tea served with a silver tea service, time to linger, and the added bonus of spectacular surroundings came together to give it a very romantic feeling.  In the off season with so few people around it felt even more like a wonderful sanctuary of quiet beauty and tranquility, and we had a little before continuing our journey.

Many years ago, when I lived close to the Rockies, this majestic lake was a place I would retreat to for restoration and refreshment for my soul.  It is one of the early places I began to understand the connections between solitude, solace and sanctuary, where creation offers  a place God gives us to experience Holy Presence, which takes us out of the ordinary and into places of deep rest and healing.  This location took on the quality of sanctuary in the sense that it was a sacred place that also held the sense of refuge and protection for my soul when my inner life felt out of balance.  A very simple cup of tea from my thermos, at the edge of the lake and the base of a mountain brought deep calm and release from inner chaos.  Good memories came flooding back as we walked into the hotel now.

A cup of tea, or any lovely warm beverage, invites you to stop and savour the flavour, the aroma, and to let your senses see what is around you.   I have found that these are some of the ingredients essential to experiencing sanctuary.   When I first started my solitary jaunts to Lake Louise all those years ago, there was always a cup of hot tea somewhere in the day. 

Letting myself sink into the comfortable seat, letting the stunning view soak in, we ordered our tea and when it arrived we waited as the tea leaves infused with the hot water to give us the perfect cuppa.  We poured our tea, that lovely aromatic blend of tea leaves through the silver strainer into our cups, lingering together at the window and just basking in the tranquility, the majesty, and the sanctuary of our own relationship together.   The silver tea service was rather regal and such fine quality - a bit of the extraordinary for a lowly cup of tea!   I could not help letting out a deep sigh of contentment.

Reminders of other cups of tea accompanied with sanctuary come to mind. Those times of deep pain when hands were wrapped tightly around a mug of tea, tears spilled down and splashed into the cup, and deep soul pain moved through my body.   Mornings where,  with a good friend, a pot of chai, and the need to share the hurdles this particular leg of life’s pilgrimage contained, we would laugh about it all.  Earlier this year, standing with my weary back against a friend’s kitchen counter, after our long flight home from the South Pacific, and sharing one of our many cups of tea through the years, we experienced a holy moment of sacredness as our friends shared their joyful news, that after many many years of waiting, they were expecting a baby!    Many cups of tea have been cradled in my hands as safe space has been entered where confidences were given, silence was held, and  others have waited in the spaces with huge unknowns.   Innumerable cups of tea have been slowly sipped in the presence of the Almighty - that place of solace, worship, and the deepest kind of comfort.

The box of Dilmah tea sits in the cupboard and I think there is invisible writing on the package that should you drink a cup of tea you may well be entering a little space of sanctuary along with this comforting cuppa!
And should that cuppa be brewing in a silver tea pot, that sits on the table by the gigantic picture window at Chateau Lake Louise, you will be guaranteed a special sacred moment of soul sanctuary should you be included to sit and let it enter your heart!  And I am deeply grateful for the many cups of tea I have shared with my beloved and the sanctuary our hearts have found in each other.

Favourite Kitchen Pieces

Much about how we cook and what we use to cook with comes with a story and a history.   I have not met anyone who doesn’t have some piece of kitchen equipment that they just can’t live without.   There are a number of favourites for me that make cooking such a pleasure.

The big red cast iron dutch oven that I have (a Le Crueset look alike) is one of my favourite kitchen items.   As I write a stew is bubbling away  in the oven and the aroma of the leaks, carrots, celery, beef and red wine are mingling and hunger is awakening within me in anticipation of our dinner tonight.      While this particular pot is a very heavy piece, and when it is full of food it is even more difficult to lift, there is something about the weight that makes it so durable and sturdy and I hope I am still able to use it to cook in when I am much older!   When I got married I discovered that my husband already had two Le Crueset pots, smaller than mine, and so now there is a wonderful choice depending on how many I am cooking for.  These cast iron pots last forever.

Cooking, for me, is very much about feel - the feel of the food as I prepare it, the feel of salt sifting through my fingers into the food, the feel of fresh vegetables as I peel and dice them, the feel of the fresh herbs as my hands run over them in the garden looking for the right pieces to cut, or the feel and weight of a piece of meat that is ready to be seasoned and cooked.   But it is more than the feel of the food.  It is about the way a pan feels in my hands, the weight of it and knowing at what temperature it is just right to sear the meat or sweat the vegetables.   Trying to cook at another place with unfamiliar utensils is difficult because there is no way to know the feel of the equipment you are working with.  It doesn’t feel like a nice flowing dance but rather a stilted unfamiliar gait and finding the right rhythm in a different kitchen can throw me off a bit.   There is very much a flow to cooking, an ease that has come with time and practice and yet, right from the very beginning, I knew the rhythm, and answered the drawing into this room that so opens my heart to sharing. 

This beautiful large, heavy, red cooking vessel is indeed a familiar friend.  Yesterday it held spare ribs that simmered slowly, with the smoked paprika, lemon, soy, maple syrup and whiskey, fresh tomatoes, garlic and green onions all coming together and giving us some lovely tender tasty meat for dinner.  This pot is made for things that ask for long slow cooking.  With autumn here and winter approaching there will be a lot of slow cooked dishes on our menu at home.

Just like old books that are rich treasures you hold with a sense of awe, those tried and true, well tested kitchen pieces are good friends to have within easy reach in the kitchen.   I love that my kitchen is full of wonderful pieces that come with stories and are used in my kitchen where ever I live.   They are part of what makes this home for us.

Recipes - To Share Or Not To Share

Recipes are heritage pieces that get passed down from generation to generation, well guarded, enjoyed by so many, yet not always given away.  They can be sacred pieces of history in some families, never fully revealed to any but the inner circle.   Recipes are closely held  for many, while others freely share their cooking secrets with those who ask.  Sometimes there are special creations that are your own signature dishes and keeping them is like guarding your heart.

In the space of 24 hours I had received two emails requesting recipes for various dishes that were made and shared with friends and family in the past week. My husband recently made his specialty chocolate cake for a wedding and was asked for the recipe.  These are sort of signature recipes that we each have and I find myself very protective and reluctant to share them.   Can recipes be compared to love?    Love was never meant to be hoarded and held only within us, but it is to be generously, tenderly and wisely shared from our depths so we see the world with deeper truth and honesty.  Are not recipes like this?  They are one of the tools we use to create dishes that nurture us, that bring us together in the intimate place of breaking bread with each other and provide us with life giving ingredients.

Yet recipes are something of the heart.  There are many of us who are very cautious as to who we share our hearts with and others are like open books.  I read once, and I cannot find the reference, that when you bring your cooking to the table you are letting everyone there see your soul.  Much of what we hold within us we guard and protect.

My husband’s Mom used to make her special sponge cake with fresh strawberries in summer time and it has become a family celebration dessert.  I never met my mother-in-law as she passed away a number of years before my husband and I met.  My family always used to make red velvet cake for celebrations.  My youngest brother used to joke that he wanted a red velvet cake for his wedding cake!   When David and I got married, he (David) made both the sponge cake with strawberries and the red velvet cake for guests to enjoy at our celebration!   The recipes for both of these have come from our separate families and become part of ‘our’ collection of celebration foods.

Special dishes are also very personal and can be a part of our own unique way of sharing special moments and giving to others.   I love to make my own version of paella when we have a larger gathering round our table.  This summer it was such a great celebration having 3 of my 5 brothers and their families gathered on our deck.  I first had  paella in Barbados, prepared by a wonderful friend and cook, and then it was one of the dishes that I learned to make in cooking school.  It symbolizes, for me, that all we need is there, like community, but we must reach for it, share it, and enjoy it together.  I don’t have an exact recipe for this meal and it seems to be slightly different every time it is prepared, and I love to prepare it for guests.

Recipes come with memories of places and times in life we wish to hold onto and keep precious and maybe by giving that away we feel as if what we hold dear will somehow not be the same anymore.   Many dishes I make came by way of someone sharing how they made it along the way!   Other creations came from what I learned from my Grandmothers, one Canadian and one Irish, and traditional dishes they made for us as we were growing up.   They are like stories, created, tasted, absorbed and passed along.   My Canadian Grandmother’s recipe box sits along with my husband’s basket full of loose recipes.  Maybe one day they will be passed along to someone else - it would be so wonderful if they were shared!

Spanish Lentil Stew

Now that autumn is arriving I crave slow cooked foods, comfort foods, and deeply flavourful dishes.

This lentil stew is something I found on-line last year and it is absolutely delicious, in either the recipe with chorizo and ham, or the vegetarian one, and if you don't want to use wine, it is fine without that too. Just add a little more vegetable broth to the mix.


SPANISH RECIPE FOR LENTIL STEW
(lentajas)

Many traditional Spanish dishes include pulses from lentils to all sorts of small or flat or large beans, chickpeas, rice etc. Visitors to Spanish restuarants will often see lentils (lentejas) offered as a first dish of a set menu del dia, and it is a filling, nutritious and delicious dish. Vegetarians beware - Spanish lentil soup usually contains chorizo and ham. This recipe for lentil soup does too, but we suggest a vegetarian version in tips and ideas at the bottom.
Spanish recipes

Basic ingredients

* 250 gr. lentils
* 1 chorizo (or a few slices if you can't get a small sausage-shaped one)
* 100 gr. serrano ham
* 1 large onion
* 1 small glass of red wine
* 2 cloves (optional)
* 1 red pepper (optional)



* Half a small glass of olive oil
* 1 bayleaf
* 2 large carrots
* 3 small potatoes
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1 pinch of saffron
* fresh parsley
* salt and pepper

Steps:

1. Soak the lentils for half an hour. Even though small lentils in packets usually don't need soaking, Spanish women tend to soak anyway

2. Cut the ham and chorizo into dice-shaped pieces. Peel and wash the carrots and potatoes. Slice the carrots and halve the potatoes (unless they are very small). Wash and slice a small red pepper (optional).

3. Drain the lentils and put them in a saucepan. Add enough water to cover them and add the ham, chorizo, carrots, potatoes, bayleaf, pepper, parsley, a little salt, saffron and wine. Also add the cloves if you want the lentils to have a slightly spicey air to them. Put the pan over a low heat and cover.

4. Slice the onion and garlic and fry, stirring all the time. After a minute or so, add the sliced red pepper. This is optional and adds a slightly sweet flavour to the lentejas. When soft, add to the other ingredients in the saucepan.

5. Let the lentil stew simmer for at least 40 minutes. Boil off any excess liquid at the end.
Tips and ideas: Spanish lentils

*
Vegetarian Spanish lentils: To make a vegetarian version of Spanish lentil soup, just substitute the chorizo and ham for more vegetables. We recommend adding a little celery (not the leaves), 3 artichokes (without the stalk and outer leaves and cut into halves), 100gr wild mushrooms (if you can get any, otherwise normal ones, washed and sliced), a sprig of rosemary, a piece of lemon peel and a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of sweet paprika. Put all of these into the saucepan in step 3. You may also like to add a vegetable stock cube.
* Try substituting the red wine for a smaller amount of Spanish cognac.
* This Spanish lentil recipe freezes very well, so make more than you need and then freeze portions.
* If you can't get hold of any chorizo or serrano ham, substitute them with other types of spicey sausage or cured ham. You could even use bacon although this will change the traditional spanish lentils flavour.

Spanish Lentil Stew

Raining Memories

On the second day of autumn this year, as on the first day, rain is teaming down, deeply soaking everything not under cover. Time to put on the fire and make a cup of dark, strong, aromatic coffee. As the little espresso pot begins to hiss and burble on the stove top, a flood of memories return, sailing across my inner vision, taking me back to my year in Italia.

Rain would be pelting down outside but inside the kitchen my friend and I would be sipping our afternoon cup of espresso. It was a ritual - after lunch the dishes would be washed, the kitchen cleaned and then, only then, would the espresso pot be put on. The two of us would pull up our chairs to the table, the sound of them moving echoing as they scraped along the tile floor, we would rest our elbows on the table and then savour of hot sweet cup of espresso. Our conversation would flow, she would help me with my Italian when the words weren’t quite right, and I would hear stories of life in this family and region of Campania. We shared our lives, past and present, tears and laughter, mingling it with the aroma of coffee inside and the sound of the rain outside.

One particular lunch that was like comfort food on a rainy day was a simple dish of lentils and spaghetti. Signora G, the Mama of my host family, would boil green lentils with a clove of garlic and salt, along with a little olive oil. When they were almost ready she added spaghetti. With freshly grated parmesan on the top it was deliciously simple. I still make this dish as comfort food on rainy days! Don’t we all have those comfort foods we like on rainy days?

Isn’t it amazing how food and memories are so connected? Those childhood favourites, celebration favourites, and things that Grandma used to make and what we remember as the scent of them reaches us.

The rain outside is flowing steadily, watering and nurturing the earth. I am enjoying sipping my hot cup of coffee, staying dry, and savouring the memories that have flowed within me this morning. And now, I think it is time for a nice bowl of lentil soup in honour of my dear friends in Italia! Then it is time to get moving and go to work.

Flowers For The Dinner

It is salad season and adding a little extra bit of colour to a salad can come in the form of adding edible flowers. Nasturtiums go wild once they get growing and they are a beautiful addition of colour and artistry to a fresh green salad. A sprinkling of bright orange calendula petals is another delightful splash of colour for the salad plate. You don't have to leave them - go ahead and eat them along with the greens!
This colorful and delicate annual is from Peru, where it was once used to treat skin wounds. Nasturtium is well known for its edible spicy flowers and leaves; what may not be so well known is that it has a high content of vitamin C and effectively treats infections and may help relieve colds. It was first brought to Europe in the seventeenth century and first cultivated only in abbey gardens for medicinal usage.
Today, nasturtium is used in cooking and as an herbal remedy. The plant's peppery leaves make a delicious addition to a salad - as long as pesticides weren't used on the plant! Nasturtium is most often used to stimulate the appetite and promote good digestion - a perfect blend of the delightful plant's culinary and medicinal properties. Nasturtium is an easy, colorful plant to grow and is available with trailing, climbing or mounding habits and either dark green or variegated leaves. Plant it in full sun or partial shade for a large harvest of leaves and flowers all summer long.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/herbal_lore/44947

Roasted Tomato Spaghetti Sauce

The local café kitchen window (photo in the previous posting)grabbed my attention with the fresh herbs growing in the planter box, the luscious bowl of fresh tomatoes sitting in the open window and the colander hanging, ready at a moments notice to hold freshly washed produce as the cleansing water slowly dripped off. Summer time and plates of fresh sliced tomatoes always go together.

When I lived in Italy the tomatoes had flavour and colour that I have not found anywhere else. So red and juicy, to be eaten just as they were. Slice them onto a plate, fan them out, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and throw on some fresh basil leaves - oh so sweet and delectable! Travelling in Bulgaria several times, the shopska salad, made from fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, thinly sliced onions and feta cheese, was always cool, refreshing, and delicious. One never got tired of being presented with this simple salad.

Our tomato plants are currently laden with tomatoes: a hanging basket with cherry tomatoes, a roma tomato plant and one beefsteak plant. Unfortunately they are taking their time ripening so we have not been able to enjoy this fresh produce just yet. Soon some fried green tomatoes might end up along with our brunch omelette!

A plate of freshly picked tomatoes was in my line of vision and something for our evening meal was also on my radar so the idea of roasted tomato pasta sauce and spaghetti was what came out of it. The roasting of the tomatoes brings out their sugar and a deeper flavour for this sauce. Fresh tomato pasta sauce does not have the tang or the acid taste that using tinned tomato sauce can give. I was actually making this in the kitchen at work for our dinner so I didn’t have a camera ready to photograph it for this posting. So you will have to use the images your memory holds of steaming, heaped plates of pasta!

Roasted Tomato Spaghetti Sauce:

6 fresh good sized tomatoes (remove the stem core and then quarter them)
6 cloves of garlic (leave the skin on)
5 or 6 stems of fresh oregano (or 1 tablespoon of dry oregano)
3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 - 2 teaspoons sea salt
Heat oven to 350F

Also:
½ cup red wine (if you like)
1 cup small cubed pancetta
Touch of olive oil
1 teaspoon of sugar

Gently toss the tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, balsamic and oregano together and place on baking pan, put into the oven for 45 minutes.

When the tomatoes are done, gently squeeze the garlic out of the skins. It will be a bit caramelized which is perfect!

Put everything into your blender, including all the juices and the oil, and blitz it for just a moment. It won’t be really smooth - you don’t want it to be.

I just love pancetta in my spaghetti sauce so I then saute the cubed pancetta in a little bit of olive oil until it is getting lightly browned. This Italian bacon has a very unique flavour to add to your sauce. Add in your pureed roasted tomato and garlic mixture and add the red wine and the touch of sugar. Simmer this at a very low heat for about 20 minutes. Using a good size fry pan is best.

Cook up your spaghetti pasta (Garofalo brand is my favourite). When the pasta is ready, drain it (don’t rinse it) and put it into the sauce and toss it all together.

Add grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese.

Buon appetito!

Fresh...

If only "fresh" ingredients were always this close at hand, this easy to procure!

Moments of Surprise

I adore those moments that take you by surprise, make you take a breath, then exhale, leaving you with a delicious sense of wonder with life.

Early the other morning I caught sight of the bear leaving the apple tree to head for something else. He stopped, stood tall, reached up and pulled down a towering sunflower and helped himself to the seeds it held.

A perfect morning snack on his morning walk!

Surprising Places to Eat in Vancouver

Loving to eat, and loving to cook, means that you are always on the lookout for great places to be surprised by the food. On our visits into Vancouver we have some favourites and then there are some new places which we add to our list. We love to find unique little places with something that takes us by surprise. Being surprised by food is always a delicious moment in a day!

We were heading up to our favourite book store and while we waited for the owner to come cycling up and open the store, we wandered along McDonald and ‘just happened’ to pass by The Patty Shop. The smell of the freshly-baked and still very warm Jamaican Patties lured my husband in and he came out shortly thereafter with a box of a dozen still warm goodies. There was an assortment of beef, chicken and vegetable patties, and, while we meant to take them all home with us, a few of them were consumed as we travelled around the city doing various errands! What a tasty snack or lunch they are and well worth a stop at this little shop. This little row of shops around McDonald and 23rd is a treat to meander through.

Copenhagen and coffee anyone? One bite of these deliciously decadent pastry treats will cause you to say you must have another and then you are hooked! The pastry is so flaky, the filling so creamy and these are the best Copenhagen’s I have ever tasted. Elite Bakery on Rumble in Burnaby have been making superb Danish pastries for years, and my husband says they have been making these Copenhagen’s at least since he was a young man in university in the early 70's. Take some home, put on a good strong pot of coffee and enjoy a beautiful mid morning treat.

There is an excellent bakery on West 10th ,The Mix, that we traditionally go to when we are in the Vancouver in November doing our Christmas shopping. But of course, we stop there often when we are out shopping for their excellent hot apple cider and one of their Panini’s, the bocadillo or their savoury gallette. Their fresh baked breads are excellent and our favourite is their orange and cranberry bread - it is superb!! It is very small unpretentious little spot and usually very busy but their food is like comfort food with extra and unique ingredients added.

When you stay in downtown Vancouver and just walk to wherever your feet take you, you can find all sorts of places to eat. We were in town for a theatre production and wanted something simple but tasty to eat, along with a glass of wine, before heading to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The Vancouver Art Gallery has a cafeteria-style restaurant on the second floor and in the summer it opens up onto a very large patio. They offer some unique salads and I chose a French Rivera Salad which was roasted vegetables (including yams) and lentils over crisp lettuce. It was such a delightful combination. Sitting out on this second story patio overlooking Robson Square, in the warm July sunshine, sipping a cool beverage and being serenaded by a jazz trio made me think I was somewhere in Europe. It was such a splendid surprise to find this lovely café!

There are so many eateries and while many of them are full of clients, I find they often have nothing special to offer. Wherever we travel we love to find places off the beaten track that are eclectic and have something that grabs our attention and invites us in to give it a try. I am sure there will be more establishments to add to our list! There is always the need to eat, and the longing to find that something special on the menu.

Wearing the Chef's Jacket

Wearing the Chef’s Jacket
July 30, 2010

Cooking school is almost 10 years behind me. Just the other day I had to purchase a new chef jacket as my others are beginning to show signs of wear and tear. The original one from school is going to be retired - the one that has my maiden name on it, the one that seems like it was first put on a lifetime ago. In many ways it is a lifetime ago as the journey from then to now has been one of no clear destination to one of finding who I am and where I belong. A big piece of that definition comes when I put on my chef jacket and begin the work day in the restaurant - the place where as the sous chef I am finally beginning to embrace the reality, “I am a chef!”.

A few years ago, when I was first married, my wonderful newly inherited daughter and son-in-law asked what I wanted for my birthday and my reply was ‘a chef jacket’. The kitchen work in the ‘home for ministry’ where I worked had taken its toll on my t-shirts and I decided it was time to work smarter and wear a jacket. Yet I was a little unsure of wearing it because it seemed a bit presumptuous to wear one in this beautiful private home that provided a place for retreats and also opened its doors to provide a safe sanctuary for disenfranchised women. A few eyebrows went up at times but it sure saved my shirt wardrobe from constantly bearing the marks of cooking!

While a nice white chef jacket is a part of the kitchen uniform, I am realizing that, for me, there is so much more to putting it on each day to begin my work. It is the realization that indeed I am a chef, a culinary artist. For so many of us we are so reluctant to truly, deeply embrace who we really are, with all our pieces, with all our creativity and passion. We are afraid to ‘put on the jacket’ that is simply a little symbol of the real person whose shoulders it rests on, whose heart it covers, and whose spirit is expressed in every move that is made.

The move into a restaurant kitchen a few years ago was a surprise for me as I never envisioned that work environment as where I would be. Yet today, a little over a year into it, I realize that this is my new ‘training kitchen’. The chef I work with has a passion for excellent food and creates such delicate flavours and is a gentle family man that shares many of the values in life I have. This is no ‘hell’s kitchen’ that I am working in!! No Gordon Ramsay’s allowed! It is a time of learning the nuances between a good sauce and a superb sauce that elicits a ‘wow’ when tasted. There is the challenge of learning to love making desserts and striving to get the ‘perfect’ texture and flavour with each one. Becoming more artistic with each dish, consistently sending out an excellently presented and flavoured appetizer is a daily challenge. I ask myself constantly how can I let my creating become a sacred work even when I never see who receives it or know how they enjoy it? Learning to be patient and precise are two challenges when I prepare desserts because, as my closest friends know, I always hated doing desserts! Not only did I not want to prepare them but I never really enjoyed eating them! Becoming a chef, in this season, means that I must take the challenge of learning to strive for excellence in the areas that are not my forte, and begin to love them because of what they teach me. Learning to be diverse in what I create allows me to be more versatile as a chef.

All those years ago in cooking school I never imagined ‘wearing the jacket’ would mean that I would proudly say ‘I am a chef’ and believe it to be true. I used to think I simply loved to cook and had a passion to let others experience the beauty and sensuality of food. Oh I still do! Yet, it is now more clearly, the realization that in order to continue to create good food, share it at our table with family and friends, to let guests experience the sensuousness of eating, there will always be the desire to know more about how excellent food is created and to be mentored by those whose experience and knowledge is much broader than mine. Wearing my chef jacket is not about having arrived but rather it is the wonder of the adventure to always finding that there is such a vast well of learning that will be a lifetime of creating new culinary tasting experiences!

At home, I still love that my husband is the dessert creator and I am the savoury food creator. It is a great team and only metaphorically do I wear my jacket at home! In my soul, all my life, I have been moving into being a chef. That is who I am.

Thoughts on Love...from Merton

The Weekly Reflection
July 26, 2010

Love is, in fact, an intensification of life, a completeness, a fullness, a wholeness of life. ...We will never be fully real until we let ourselves fall in love - either with another human person or with God. And this must not be confined only to sexual fulfillment: it embraces everything in the human person --- the capacity for self-giving, for sharing, for creativity, for mutual care, for spiritual concern.



Thomas Merton. Love and Living. (New York: Harcourt, 1965). p. 27



Thought for the Day



...love is not just something that happens to you: it is a certain special way of being alive.


Love and Living: p. 27

All That Remains

The tender meat of the spot prawn was delicious and only the shell remained. The clams steamed in white wine tasted wonderful but only the bit of shell is left. The pits of the salty Moroccan olives join the shells on the plate. Just the inedible and indigestible bits remain from our evening dinner.

And yet, the taste of the grilled prawns that were tossed with olive oil, garlic and a bit of smoked paprika still lingers in my mouth. I can still remember the strong fragrance as I lifted the lid of the pot of the cooked clams - the blend of white wine, clam juice and the colours of the fresh picked and chopped parsley and the red tomato pieces. The feel of the prawns in my hands as I try to remove the hard shell and not tear the tasty flesh so I can savour its flavour. Pieces of saffron rice cling to the prawns and clams and I taste that beautiful exotic flavour of the saffron and turmeric. My eyes take in the strong vibrant colours those spices have infused into it. The spicy zing of the chorizo sausage pops in my mouth until it is relieved with the lovely taste of the red wine that accompanied the meal.

All that remains on the plate are the things I cannot consume or enjoy. What is left does not begin to let you know how richly I enjoyed the meal of leftovers. Nor does it tell you how wonderful it was to enjoy the evening before as we had our first deck party this summer and had the new teak table surrounded with friends as we all enjoyed taking what we needed, and wanted, from the platters filled with saffron rice, roast chicken thighs, sliced chorizo, steamed clams, grilled prawns and grilled salmon fillet. We all had messy fingers from peeling the prawns! There was a heap of empty shells at the end of the evening. All this was followed by the tiramisu, a fresh fruit pie and the traditional summer strawberries and sponge cake with fresh cream that my husband makes.

Yet the greater percentage of what remains from the evening meal is not visible. There are tastes that linger in your mouth, conversations that percolate in your heart, nurturing that happens as our body processes what we have eaten, aromas that will be awakened again in our memory. The food nurtured our bodies as we ate, the sense of community, the hope and deep sense of contentment nurtures much deeper within my soul - these are the things I can name that will linger, that will remain. There were two delightful children who were part of our evening on the deck. After dinner I came upon one of them lying on the floor beside our frail 22 year old cat, Astrophe, and this old feline was luxuriating in the tender touch of the little one lying beside her., giving her gentle love. Later, on the bocce ball court, a game was taking place and the squeals of delight from the little one and cheers from the adult players enjoying their game floated through the trees up to the deck.

Like our breath being inhaled and then exhaled, this rhythm of life, the season of gathering to feast together in the warm summer air seemed so natural and life giving. This life giving rhythm offers us flavours and scents that weave memories within us. Patterns continue to be woven in the threads of our being and indeed this is what remains and will linger on long after the prawn shells, olive pits and clam shells have been discarded.

So much more remains!

Dining Out

It was a beautiful relaxing day which was capped off by dinner out. One of those evenings where the setting was perfect, the wine was excellent, the food was superb and we lingered over dinner. Dinner out wasn’t far away, no need to drive anywhere - just outside the back door on the deck surrounded by gardens that are coming to life, bird feeders alive with exquisite little winged creatures, hummingbirds zooming in and out of their nectar feeding stops, and the warmth and quiet of this evening on our little piece of paradise completed the picture of the best dining out location I know of.

My husband’s father Jack, used to prepare steaks, his special brand of BBQ steaks, for his wife Pat on regular occassions. Alas, I never had the privilege of meeting either Jack or Pat as they passed away before my husband and I were married. David follows his Dad‘s tradition so when we can, on our quiet days together he prepares his own brand of fabulous steaks on the BBQ, creating our own tradition as a couple.

With the smell of the steaks cooking on the grill on this unexpectedly non-rainy evening, we were relaxing at our new teak outdoor dining table, sipping a delightful Pinot Noir (Mud House from Central Otago, New Zealand) and watching all the wildlife that was greedily feeding at the bird feeders hanging between the cedar and hemlock trees. There were a few vegetables from the previous weeks’ organic veggie delivery so it was easy to just par-boil the broccoli and the fingerling potatoes, add some asparagus that definitely was needing to be used. They were tossed together with some olive oil, drizzled with a light coating of balsamic vinegar and seasoned with salt, pepper and a little oregano. When the steaks and veggies were done and delivered to the table, we just sank into the nice cushiony softness of our outdoor dining chairs, sat back, poured another glass of wine and prepared to dine in this ‘ordinary’ haven we call home.

I think the season of ‘dining out’ in the open air, just outside the back door may have arrived! And how glorious it is when it comes and invites us to linger outside and be surrounded the beauty of flowers, growing vegetation and the multitude of birds.

Quick Potato, Onion, Celery Soup

Rainy days, cold and windy days - those are the times when a steaming hot bowl of soup seems to be just the ticket. Rainy days seem to be lingering out here on the West Coast and with it being very much an inside day, it was a good time to get a pot of soup ready for lunch.

Vegetable soups are very quick and easy and don’t necessarily need to sit for 24 hours to have the flavours fully melded.

In this recipe you can easily substitute leaks for the celery.

RECIPE:

2 medium sized potatoes - peeled and cut into smallish pieces
6 celery stocks - slice into fine slices (use the top leaves but not the bottom white of the stock)
1 medium onion chopped
3 green onions - chopped
½ lemon - juiced and outside rind saved
1 ½ McCormick’s vegetable or chicken stock cubes
1 teaspoon of dry oregano
2 teaspoon of salt- add 1 teaspoon and taste as it cooks and then add more if you would like more.
¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Fresh thyme stems if available - don’t use dry thyme
Splash of whipping cream if desired *


- Heat butter and olive oil in your pot, turn heat down to medium and add the celery and onions. Add a little salt. Cook them together, sweat them, so they become tender but not brown. This is about 5- 7 minutes.
- Squeeze the lemon juice in and then also throw in the lemon piece to the pot.
- Add the chopped potatoes, gently mix together and then add the water and stock cubes and bring to a boil then let it continue boiling on a medium heat for about 20 minutes.
- Add oregano.
- If you have fresh thyme put it in too.
- Check for the taste of the broth to see if you want to add more salt or not.
- Once the potatoes are very soft add the Dijon mustard.
- Remove soup from the heat and let it cool a little. Remove the piece of lemon. Remove thyme stems.

- if you want it to be a cream soup, add a ¼ cup of whipping cream to the soup and bring it to the boil again.*

- Using either a hand blender or a regular blender, puree the soup. Again check your seasoning to make sure it is to your liking. Add more salt if you need to.


If you want to jazz it up, toast little slices of a baguette and then grill a little Gruyere cheese on them to make little cheese croutons. You can also drizzle a touch of Truffle oil on the top of your soup.

"What's In The Fridge" Veggie Soup

One of the challenges I have set for myself in this ‘journey into health by food” is to try and eat more vegetables and fruit. When the organic food delivery arrives each week it means we need to use up what was delivered the previous week before we start the new produce. Fitting this into the way we prepare our meals is a little different for us in that Monday and Tuesday we can easily have all our meals at home but the rest of the week I am in the restaurant kitchen from early afternoon till late evening and my husband therefore has to create his own dinner, and fit that around his various evening committee meetings. We therefore do not have regular evening meals to prepare together other than Monday and Tuesday, my days off work. It is so easy to get lazy and say we will simply ‘pick something up’ and then back track on the goals of healthy eating, and using what we have. Long time habits around what we eat and how we prepare or eat are going to take a while to change and sometimes it just seems like too much effort to do so.
Hence easy to prepare, colourful, ‘what’s in the fridge’ veggie soup has become a new favourite of mine. The basics of this come from my time spent in Italy when in the winter my host family often made vegetable broth and added chopped zucchini, tiny pepe bucato pasta and lots of grated parmesan cheese as a lunch dish. There is a high quality of ‘comfort food’ to this bowl of goodness!

Basic Ingredients
Veggies
Cheese
Stock cube, water or broth
Tiny pasta (Garofalo’s Pepe Bucato pasta works best)

Extras
lemon juice or zest, fresh parsley, fresh thyme, and baked garlic cloves, oregano.

Looking into the fridge there was some zucchini, broccoli, and carrots that could cook quickly. Some feta cheese would add protein so it would be crumbled in when the soup is ready.

- grate 2 carrots
- slice one zucchini lengthwise into 4 and then slice those into small pieces
- chop broccoli florets into tiny pieces and also thinly slice the stems
- bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add 1 cube of either vegetable or chicken stock (McCormicks is the one I like best). Add more broth if you want a stronger flavour.
- throw in 3 stems of fresh thyme if you have it, also 3 stems of chopped parsley and 1 tablespoon of oregano.
- dash of salt
- if you like lemon, squeeze juice of one lemon into the water or put ½ teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest
- through the veggies in the water and bring it to a boil and cook for about 4 minutes
- add ½ cup of the pasta and continue to cook for about 7 minutes until the pasta is tender.
- check seasoning to see if you need any more salt
- remove the stems of thyme
- throw in a handful of either crumbled feta cheese or a little grated cheese of any kind.

Sitting out on the deck with my big bowl of ‘what’s in the fridge’ veggie soup, in the afternoon sun felt so good. It was tasty, healthy, using what was in the fridge and it took only 15 minutes to prepare. And having finished this bowl of goodness it is time to head to work and put my energy into dishes that will be a little more complex for the evening dinner service guests!

Savouring That Hot Drink

Can you remember the places you have sat in the early morning, or mid afternoon, or evening, with your hands folded in a prayer like manner around a mug? Did you too find the combination of warming your hands, sipping something soothing and hot, along with the quiet and stillness in that space of time was a place of utter bliss and comfort? This ritual seems to have no age, social, or cultural restrictions. It is just a universal pose that seems to say “I am resting and I am waiting” with a posturing that is looking out beyond where one is today.

I was sitting here with my hands wrapped around my cup of hot water with lemon slices and a chunk of ginger. I seem to be finding myself quite cold these days, even though the weather is getting sunny and very spring like and so wrapping my hands around a mug of hot soothing and healthy lemon ginger water moves heat into my fingers, my hands and up my arms. In essence it is just a plain cup, perhaps china or maybe ceramic, filled with a very ordinary beverage such as tea, coffee, hot milk, or hot water, and yet, it also holds an ingredient that allows us to savour the extraordinary ingredient of stillness. Somehow stillness also holds hope and there is not one of us who doesn’t need moments of hope I am sure.

When we were children my Mom used to make us hot chocolate or a cup of weak tea when it was cold outside. Each of us had a special mug and we would wrap our hands around it to hold it tightly so as not to spill. But I discovered that this had another advantage - it would warm up my hands and that heat would spread up my arms and such a cozy comforting feeling became associated with a warm beverage. I don’t think this feeling has changed many years later! Life was very busy in our growing up years but I treasure the memories of our early Saturday morning trips to Puslinch Lake. It was a time when church trauma had isolated us from a close knit community and all we had was each other. Dad would start the Coleman stove and first thing was the coffee to be made for Mom. I remember her sitting in the lounge chair with her hands wrapped around that beautiful cup of coffee as she sat for a moment, holding her grief at losses and holding her love for her family as she watched us play. Perhaps this is where my memory of the posture of “prayer and the coffee mug” was first drawn.

No matter where you travel to, in your own community, or far from home, you will find a coffee shop or tea room where someone will be sitting in this prayerful pose, hands wrapped around their warm beverage. They are sinking into this moment of stillness, waiting and watching, inviting us to embrace our own moment of stillness.

Kale - How Do You Cook That?

Organic Basket Delivery Week 3

Kale - a huge bunch of kale was in the last organic box delivery and frankly I had no idea what to do with it. Kale and Holland are always connected in my memory. A Saturday morning trip to the nearby market in Den Haag always yielded fresh bread, a fresh pot of vegetable soup that contained kale, meat balls and various other vegetables, along with a fresh chunk of Gouda cheese on the table. One friend creates a beautiful kale pie made with cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, eggs and kale and it always tastes fabulous but I don’t know how to make it. The Irish Chef I work with has memories of kale chopped and steamed and then mixed with bacon, onions and mashed potatoes.

Kale is one of the best greens you can eat as it is one of the best sources of beta-carotene, and for a green vegetable it is unusually high in fibre. There are a variety of vitamins, especially vitamin A and calcium. Kale also can trigger the liver to produce the all important enzymes that detoxify cancer causing chemicals which we are all daily exposed to - a powerful antioxidant. So that means it is good for you and if we are trying to eat foods that bring us life, this would be a good one. Just how to prepare so we can enjoy it is then the next question.

The internet holds a fabulous library of recipes and makes it so easy to find out how to cook new foods, or find new ideas for giving old favourites a new flavour. Today it was the place to find out how to cook this batch of kale that had arrived in my last organic vegetable and fruit basket delivery.

Roasted Kale with Red Onions, a Better Homes and Gardens recipe, caught my eye. As I began to prepare it I decided to add a couple of other ingredients that seemed like they would fit. I am afraid that sticking to a recipe is like trying to colour within the lines with a child and their colouring book - I just can’t seem to do it very well! The basic recipe suggests caramelizing red onion, adding it to the chopped kale, tossing it together with a little olive oil and throwing it into a medium hot oven for 15 minutes. The variation recipe for kale -
Roasted Kale with Caramelized Onion and Apples

1 bunch of kale - chopped
½ large onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to flavour
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 crisp apple, thinly sliced but not skinned
1 teaspoon of oregano

- Heat oven to 375F
- line a 9 x 13 pan with tin foil
- heat olive oil and when it is hot add sliced onion and cook for 5 minutes
- add brown sugar, stir constantly, and cook for a few more minutes
- add the balsamic vinegar and the oregano and continue to cook for 5 more minutes so that the sugar and balsamic have created a syrup for the onions.
- add the caramelized onions to the chopped kale and season with salt and pepper
- melt the butter in the pan you had the onions in and add it to the kale. Toss everything together so it is well coated.
- add the sliced apple
- place the kale in the oven and bake it for 20 - 25 minutes.

It will have a slightly crispy texture and the slightly bitter kale with the caramelized onions and sweet tender apples is a lovely burst of textures, sweet, salty and bitter all rolled into one bite. Caramelized onion always adds a burst of flavour to whatever you combine it with and the balsamic especially adds a stronger aroma to the onions. Apples, surprisingly, also add a delightful sweetness when they are cooked together with other ingredients. They do not have the tang of citrus but rather a more gentle infusion of their character that adds a lovely subtle change to any dish.

Next time the kale arrives in our organic basket we will search for another way to enjoy this very nutritious bunch of greens.

New Organic Delivery - What's For Dinner?

The new surprise box of organics had arrived! Time to check out what we can do with the contents of this weeks delivery. The fresh fruit is great for breakfast and snacking on, the kale is something I have not cooked with so I look forward to trying new recipes with that and the rest of the basket will provide some basic vegetables for our new week of meals.

In the last basket there was a lovely chunk of ginger which has provided daily cups of ginger lemon tea. There were a few things left to use up quickly before starting the new produce so this dinner is a combination of what was left and some beet tops from the new box.

What I want to use this time: carrots, onion, garlic, potatoes, yams, apples, beets and beet tops, pork tenderloin. There was not a lot of time in this busy day so everything needed to be prepared and ready within 1 hour.

Roasted Vegetables - ready in 40 minutes
Roasted vegetables are always tasty and easy. Some chopped carrots, onion and yams, along with a couple of new little red skin potatoes are sprinkled with a little oil, some salt and pepper to taste along with some oregano. Whole garlic cloves in their skins are nice to add to these veggies and when they are ready the soft garlic comes out of the skin very easily and has a caramelized taste to it. In the oven at 425F they can roast and be ready in 40 minutes.

Steamed Beet Tops - ready in 15 minutes
Beet tops are often thrown away and only the beet root used. The green leafy tops are even more rich in iron than spinach, as well as being loaded with vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C and vitamin K. The beet root can wait but just taking the beet tops and steaming them for about 15 minutes they are a tasty rich green vegetable. A touch of butter and some seasoning makes them a very easy addition to dinner. The only caution on these is that beet tops are one of the things that anyone on blood thinners should eat very little of (Vitamin K rich greens react with medications such as Coumadin)

We had purchased a package of pork tenderloins a few weeks ago and they were frozen individually. My husband makes some beautiful dishes with pork tenderloin. But these recipes all involve various kinds of marinade that requires more time than we had today. So it had to be a dish that would be prepared, cooked and ready to serve within the 60 minutes we had available.

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin - ready in 45 minutes
After trimming of the skin and fat and cutting the tenderloin in half, it was seasoned with salt and pepper and then seared it to a light brown colour in the waiting hot fry pan with a little oil and butter. Take any of the oil from the pan after it is seared and keep it aside for the herb crust. Put the tenderloin, in the fry pan, into the oven for 20 minutes.

It is a bit early in the season for my herbs in the garden to be really luscious but there is still enough out there to use once in a while. I gathered some fresh thyme, rosemary, a couple of sage leaves and some chives and chopped them finely. Pounding them together with the mortar and pestle it is nice to also add a little fresh lemon zest before adding the oil removed from the fry pan. A little bit of bread crumbs were added to bind it all together. After the pork had cooked for 20 minutes, it was brushed with Dijon mustard and then the herb mixture packed on top of the tenderloin. Slice up an apple into nice thin slices and put them around the pork. Throw the pork and apples back into the oven for about another 10 minutes.

Dinner prepared from our organic delivery with some meat added, herbs from the garden, and nice glass of Malbec wine was tasty and it felt good to sit down at the table and take time to enjoy this meal before heading off to evening appointments.

Salt and Healing

This is an article that is a couple of years old but when we held our annual Seder Supper this week, the salt and the tears thought reminded me of what was written in this post. So here it is again.

Salt has been something I have used as seasoning and symbolically felt it was a preservative. The thought of salt as a healer has not been the predominate thought in my mind.

Yeast of course is the ingredient that causes that dough to rise and then after the baking process we have beautiful fluffy bread

We have become part of a new book club and the first get together was at our home. The antique table that makes such a statement in this little house in the woods, was spread out, all 3 leaves added to it and 10 of us were seated there. Once the table is spread out it fills just about all of our dining/living room area! Over the course of 4 hours food was consumed, wine was poured, all the while seasoned with animated conversation that ranged from areas of justice, environmental concerns to each person being asked, and answering the question “how did your parents influence the direction of your life in the high school years and were they involved in the decisions you made? Where they supportive of what you chose to do?”.

In the holding of the question and the answering that came thoughtfully and at times painfully, one could hear pieces of others sacred and precious life journey. The table once again became the sacred space that held the salt of seasoning and the grains of healing journeys. Animated conversation was woven with hushed speaking when deeply personal moments were laid before this new group. The salt could be tasted in each story, and as in the Seder Supper tradition, the salt water with bitter herbs is a reminder of the tears of the journey. There was much symbolic salt in our evening.

As the guests left and we cleared up the dishes, as I stood alone at the sink late in the evening pondering, I thought of the spaces, empty spaces in many of our lives where we long for this kind of intimate dialogue yet rarely find it. The places where we could love growth and the comfort this affords us, almost like the symbolic comfort food that bread is. Where the yeast has done its work to provide the necessary working to bring us this light, sustaining, food of comfort and life - the bread of life which is an essential for us to live. Safe places to verbalize ideas, to be seen and heard and honoured are a kind of bread of life to the soul and spirit. They are the places that Holy Presence comes with fragrance, salt and yeast.

The Sacred Table must always hold space for the salt of healing, seasoning and preservation (holding with honor and giving dignity) as well as the yeast the provides the necessary combination and action to give us the comfort food, this bread of life that comes in surprising ways to feed us.

Journey Into Health By Food - Beginning

The time has come to accept that fact that I have to change how I eat - a change I have resisted for some time. I love to cook and I love to eat - those things need not change. Being a chef I love to try new ideas and combinations, create and share meals with family and friends. But I live with chronic pain and fatigue due to fibromyaligia and that may not change and this has become really discouraging to me. So the time has come to make some changes that can move me into accepting what is, doing what I can to keep my body, mind and soul healthy and to let this be an adventure that helps me to live well. This is not going to be an easy journey because it means I have to stop reaching for comfort food, for the salty foods such as chips that I crave. Arriving home late from work, often after 11PM, it is tempting to have a snack of some sort but I need to stop eating that late in the day. I will need to be much more intentional about where and how I choose to get my groceries and tap into creativity at an even deeper level. Step one has to order an organic food box delivery every other week (probably increasing to weekly soon) and let this be the base for my food planning and preparation.

This “Journey Into Health By Food” will hopefully be an honest dialogue, not hiding the struggles but also celebrating the ways the change feels good. Creativity is an essential ingredient to finding energy when the fatigue and pain gets tough going so I am looking forward to letting the creativity become a part of the fuel for this journey into change. I am also accessing several books for this journey, as well as the help of friends who have walked it, and hopefully there will be wisdom there to share with you as well.

Sooooooo…our first food box is here and I was so excited to see what was inside and think of what could be created by the contents! I remember my friend Erin writing about her journey of trying to create with what was in her food box and I thought of that again while looking at the fresh contents of our delivery.

Contents:
4 apples
1 bunch of bananas
2 grapefruit
1 avocado
1 small bunch carrots
2 yellow onions
1 bunch of chard
1 head of cauliflower
1 garlic
2 tomatoes
½ bunch of parsley
4 small yams
Small bag of mushrooms
1 piece of ginger root

The first thing I did was take a couple of slices of ginger root and a couple of slices of a lemon to make a pot of ginger lemon tea. You can let it steep for a little bit then remove the ginger, but leave the lemon, and reheat it anytime during the day. The benefits of ginger are numerous. It has anti-oxidents in it and also because it is classified as a herb it has essential oils, calcium, protein, phosphorus, iron, vitamin C and much more. Ginger also helps digestion and a cup of ginger tea can help an upset stomach or help when you feel nauseated. It will also increase circulation so the tea is good to drink if you feel cold. I enjoy fresh slices of ginger sauteed briefly with sliced green onions in a little sesame oil and then you add cubes of tofu and saute until they are golden.

A fresh apple was a good snack as I was unpacking the box of goodies and putting them away. Another day one of the grapefruits was a delicious afternoon snack with a cup of lemon tea.

We cooked 2 yams for dinner the first night - slicing them in chunks, sprinkling them with oil, salt, pepper and a touch of smoked paprika and then roasting them at 425F for about 40 minutes until they are tender. The cauliflower can be a lovely soup but it is also delicious done in the simple Southern Italian way - steam it until al-dente then saute it in a small amount of hot oil with minced garlic until golden then add fresh lemon juice and a touch of salt and pepper (this is comfort food to me). Chard was something my Grandma always prepared and I love it best just steamed with a touch of seasonings. It is also lovely if you add the steamed chard to spaghetti noodles, add a touch of olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper and fresh grated parmesean cheese with just a hint of nutmeg added to the mix and you have lunch or supper.

The parsley out in our garden is a bit tired looking after the winter so this fresh bunch in the box will be lovely on steamed potatoes with lemon juice too or I am thinking of using it in a salad. The tomato and avocado each diced then finely chopped parsley added with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil and a hint of salt with make a great lunch. I have some walnut burger patties that would be good with this salad - a great combination of raw fresh foods, lovely green colours (our liver loves greens because of their ability to cleanse this vital organ) and vegetarian walnut patty.

Coconut oil is one of the best high heat oils because it resists oxidation at high heats(therefore keeping it as a good fat) so I am going to switch to this as my cooking oil. It is best to have the pan really hot before you add your oil for frying and then cook quickly at this temperature to sear and seal the food you are cooking. Coconut oil will now be on my shelf along with the olive oil.

It feels good to start this adventure into health by food and I hope it will also be one of learning to use what we have, appreciating our food sources better and experiencing the joy of sharing it with others along the way. It fells hopeful to begin a fresh way to eat, to savour, to linger and to live even more richly and wisely!

Soup's On

From Eastern Europe to the South Pacific or into Great Britain, on the West or East Coast of North America you can always find a good bowl of soup. There are many places I have not yet travelled to but I am sure that one day I will be able to try soup in many new destinations. Soup that is creamy or a clear broth, full of vegetables and/or meat, seafood chowders, cold or hot in temperature - there are so many ways to create a great bowl of soup.

Soup is one of those all purpose kind of dishes. You can have it for a light meal, commence a larger meal with a bowl of soup, try it when you are not feeling well, have it when you are in a hurry, or create it will all the leftovers in the fridge! It is a highly versatile kind of dish that comes all in one bowl! And I love soup in any variation I can find. Making it yourself you know exactly what is in it and a healthy meal can be created. It is also a very economical meal when you have a little of several ingredients combined to create a larger quantity that can do for a number of meals.

A good stock is helpful when making soup. If you can make your own and freeze it in zip lock bags then you are set with the base ready to go at any time - chicken or turkey stock or vegetable stock are the most common to have on hand. An organic, low salt stock cube is also a good thing to keep in your pantry but I suggest reading the label and knowing what the ingredients are as MSG comes in many names. Also keeping a supply of carrots, onion, celery and potatoes on hand is a good idea as they are base ingredients for many soups as well as the carrots, onion and celery being the base for vegetable stock making.

Butternut squash soup was on the menu in our house last week as there was a lovely squash in the fridge and it needed using up along with carrots, celery, onions and potatoes. There were several bags of chicken stock in the fridge as well. The seasonings you add become the way to make any dish your own unique creation. I like to add a little curry powder and cumin with a hint of cinnamon to this particular soup which seems to bring out the rich flavour of the squash. You can add coconut milk and ginger for a more Asian flavour if you like. And I like exotic spices with richly coloured foods.

Bright bold coloured foods remind me of silk fabrics in rich luscious colours that the women of India and Pakistan wear and somehow I connect those colours with the strong aromatic flavours that are released by exotic spices blending with the dishes being cooked. Bold colours and flavours always seem to speak to me of LIFE!

The best flavour in soup seems to arrive when you firstly sweat your vegetables and then also let the soup refrigerate for 24 hours after cooking to allow the mingling to continue even further.

Simple soups are great for a quick meal that is satisfying. When I lived in Italia, Signora Giulia often brought some chicken broth to a boil, added Pepe Bucato pasta, which is a very tiny pasta, looking like pearl barley. When your broth comes to a boil add some pasta and some finely chopped green onion and let it boil for a couple of minutes till your pasta is soft. Squeeze in the juice of a half lemon and throw in some finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese and you have a great lunch, or a simple supper ready in no time.

If you have ingredients in your fridge you don’t know what to do with just look up the ingredients and soup on the internet and see what you can find. You could have a great surprise dish coming to dinner tonight! The fragrance of the cooking will let them know that “Soup’s On”.

Some Things Blend...Some Things Don't

Blending flavours as well as textures seems to be part of what creates food dishes that we either really enjoy or that we would say no to a second time. The combination of textures and flavours is what creates comfort food for us as well. Winter and early spring time on the West Coast, where we live, tends to be very dull and rainy which creates the longing for comfort food or slow cooked foods. Slow cooked foods such as stews are often prepared in a season when we like to hibernate. Dull rainy weather certainly has me longing to stay indoors and curled up with a good book and a pot of something simmering on the stove that permeates the house all day with its deepening abundance of fragrances.

Recently I was sitting curled up in my big reading chair, flipping through some Fine Cooking magazines a friend has passed along, and I came across a recipe for Lamb Stew with Chick Peas and Parsnips. The colours in it looked very exotic and I could almost smell the cumin in the lamb stew!

Staying creative is an important part of keeping my energy level up and right now that is coming through trying new recipes that catch my eye. Well actually the bright colours in the photos of the recipes are often what catch my eye to be quite honest! Imagine how much more important it is to have a great colour combination in your meal ingredients in order to visually increase the appetite of those who come your dinner table. Anyhow I digress…back to the Lamb Stew. I get carried away in my passion around food and life!

One of the main characteristics of ‘stew’ is the long slow cooking that tenderizes all the ingredients so you have a soft, flavourful texture with the juices that result providing a rich flavourful gravy that holds it all together. Chickpeas in a lamb stew intrigued me but I also know that they do not soften in texture through cooking, rather they continue to keep a very mealy texture. But if you never give it a try you will never know will you. While this recipe does call for a leg of lamb, the local grocery store didn’t have one but they did have some nice size lamb shoulder chops and they work just as well. Parsnips are one vegetable I am not really keen on as their very strong flavour seems to overwhelm all else on the plate. But once again it is time to be creative so why not try something that challenges my taste buds. I was able to cook the lamb the day before and the bay leaves and cinnamon stick in the broth smelled so good! Once the lamb is cooked and tender you drain the broth off and save it, save the meat and just discard the rest of the ingredients that have done their job in flavouring the meat and broth. When you see ‘braised’ dishes on any menu this is how they have been cooked. The next day near to dinner time the onions were sauted with the spices that really add the exotic to this stew - cumin, cayenne, coriander, and tomato puree. The paprika creates the deep rich red colour and the prunes add a sweetness. Fruit and strong spices are an excellent marriage in exotic flavour dishes. So far this was on its way to being a great stew for dinner. The parsnips and chickpeas were added as required and I also through in a carrot for colour and I let it simmer slowly until David arrived home from his meeting and we could sit down to dinner.

This lamb stew had wonderful flavours and I loved the blend of the exotic seasonings. Personally I found the parsnips to be too strong and I would substitute turnip. The chickpeas are indeed an ingredient that belongs with foods that carry Middle Eastern and African ingredients. I would use them on their own and create more of a vegetable/legume stew with these seasonings or else leave them out when using lamb. It is all a matter of personal taste and that is the beauty of trying something new and discovering what tastes and textures you like blended together.

Eating is a necessity to life but making it an adventure allows the senses to participate is this ritual that nurtures us, give us energy, comfort us, and draws us into community.

The Handy Ulu Knife

Every kitchen needs to have a good set of knives in your collection of essential equipment. The two knives that most chefs find essential is a good chef knife and a good paring knife. There are a couple of other knives that we find easy to use and one of them is the ulu knife or the mezzaluna knife. In Alaska it is called the Ulu knife and in Italy it is the Mezzaluna or Half Moon knife.

A number of years ago my parents went up to Alaska and they brought me back this little ulu knife that sits in a handy wooden stand. I keep it on the window sill where it is in sight and quick to grab. The beauty of this little kitchen tool is that you do not need a large space to chop up herbs or nuts. I find that using my chef knife for chopping herbs or nuts I end up making a mess of things and they spill off the chopping board. The ulu knife allows you to do quick chopping in a limited space and it saves a lot of mess. At least in my case this is so!

This morning I was making up a batch of granola and the pecans needed to be chopped. I was able to put a handful on my little cutting board, quickly roll the ulu knife back and forth over them and the nuts were the right size and ready to add to the rest of the ingredients in not time at all.

Once the spring comes and my herbs are back and ready to use I will be able to add them fresh to various dishes. The handy ulu knife allows me to quickly and cleanly chop up the rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme or chives. Not only do I love the feel of these beautiful fresh living herbs as I sprinkle them into a dish, but the cutting process releases their fragrant aroma and you see the beautiful rich variations of green colour.

This little knife is a great addition to your everyday knife collection in the kitchen.

Thanks Mom and Dad for this gift of a very useful and long lasting tool for my culinary crafting.

A Taste of Lamingtons

Warm sunny days with no particular schedule are often an invitation to sit down with a lovely beverage and something light to nibble on. Add to that being on a vacation and you have the perfect recipe for finding a little café from which to not only enjoy some good food but to watch the world go by from the idyllic setting. These invitations were hard for us to resist on our recent holiday in New Zealand so our stops became a regular occurrence in various towns and cities as we drove through both the North and South Islands of this beautiful country.

Stopping to enjoy the sunshine and a good cup of tea is a multi-dimensional stop. It brings one of my most sacred ingredients around food and community together - stopping to linger and be present for little precious space of time. By intentionally sitting down I find my senses gathering together so that where I am in that moment becomes the only thing I need to be present to. As one whose brain is always pondering, wondering, working overtime, even this part of me just needs to stop working so I can be present and my sub conscious can let go of all that energy that is often needlessly spent on anxiety. Watching the world go by is also a creative time and so ones’ journal needs to be ready to put impressions or thoughts on paper.

Every culture has their own special sweet dishes and Lamingtons are something I remember from my first visit to New Zealand almost 30 years ago! I had forgotten what the flavours and textures were so my taste buds and memory wanted to be reminded of just exactly what they were. They look like they are a jello cube covered in coconut and in fact they are sponge cake dipped into cherry jello and then covered in coconut, with fresh cream between the two layers of cake. I can’t say I would try them again - my taste buds have become reacquainted with the flavour and texture of this New Zealand sweet dish and just this one meeting was enough! One has to try these national specialties at least once for sure.

Travelling is not just about seeing the countryside, at least if you really want to experience another place it involves much more. Some places are very exotic while others are much more like home but there are always foods, music, mannerisms, customs and ways of doing things that hold a difference from our way. Stopping for a cup or tea or coffee and enjoying a light snack is a good place to start trying the simple culinary tidbits that are unique to another place. New Zealanders love their cup of tea at any time of the day and in any season. It is a custom that quite appeals to me as I too love a good strong cup of tea. A cup of tea is never taken on its own - you simple must have a little something sweet along with it. On that day, a stop while passing through Taupo New Zealand, it was the time to have tea and a lamington and the opportunity to try something unique to this place ’Down Under’.

A little bit of time to stretch our legs and walk around Taupo on our way to Wellington, a good cup of tea and something sweet, a few thoughts in the journal and then we were on our way again. Ah, it was a lovely little moment of lingering!
In fact it was a whole month of lingering through the gorgeous days of our holiday.