csa farm fresh salad

We haven't been doing much grocery shopping lately. It's too hot and we're not lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood with one of those fancy air-con supermarkets. While there is appeal to standing in front of a popsicle fridge with the doors wide open and my tongue stuck to the rack, it's just not going to happen. Neither is shopping during a heatwave in an overcrowded and tiny market in Chinatown fighting for elbow room. Nope, not my idea of happy fun times. Luckily, we've been CSA blessed. We split a share with friends and every Tuesday we get a huge load of veggies to be eaten up throughout the week. This was last week's share and here's what yesterday's half share looked like.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you are well aware that there is a heat wave happening. We're wimps and we just can't handle the heat. There's no way that I'll be turning on the oven, the stove or even make a pot of coffee. I tried my hand at cold-brewing coffee again (this time a different & more successful recipe) and it turned out great. So for dinner, I turned to my csa share for inspiration and decided that a gigantic bowl of salad would do nicely. It was perfectly crunchy and full of flavour. And it's flexible....just add in what you've got. The dressing which I had planned as some kind of asian ranch actually turned out good, especially considering that I didn't have any mayo to thicken the dressing at all. Consider this a runny buttermilk asian vinaigrette of sorts. It's runny but it tastes great. But add mayo if that's your thing.

Oh, and I'll be heading out on holiday next month and would love if a Vancouver-ite could take over our half of the csa share while we're gone. So if you are around throughout August and love the idea of organic and locally grown produce, please send me an email for more information. GONE!

csa farm fresh salad
1 small head cabbage, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 head of broccoli, finely diced
2 radishes, diced
2 T chopped onion, diced
2 large handfuls of walnuts, chopped
2 handfuls of raisins

dressing
1/3 c buttermilk
1 small lemon, juiced
1/2 t fresh ginger, minced
1 T olive oil
1 T soy sauce
1/4 t agave syrup
a few shakes of sriracha

Add all the vegetables into a large bowl and toss with the raisins and walnuts. In a measuring cup, blend together the dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Toss well. This dressing is runny. If you like a thicker dressing, cut out some of the buttermilk and sub in some mayo.

lemon, parmesan & chickpea cabbage salad

After pickling prunes and boiling cookies, sometimes you just want something normal. A meal that feels like home. Cabbage is one of my favorite kitchen workhorses and it shouldn't be relegated to dreary winter days or forgotten about until the fridge is running on empty. Cabbage can be a hit of sunshine and a welcoming crunch. Let it be your summertime companion!

Cabbage is great because it only needs a little bit of something to turn it into wow. When I read Molly's book, I did a double take when it came to Brandon's cabbage salad. One evening when the golden hour sunshine flooded into our apartment, I knew this would make the ideal dinner salad. It was simple, nothing more than lemon juice, garlic, Parmesan and good olive oil and a little seasoning. But when I started adding the shredded cabbage leaves to the bowl, I figured why not add in a bit of protein? So I threw in a can of drained chickpeas and our dinner salad was born. With a buttered Portuguese roll from our local market, this salad was perfect. I think I will make this meal my new best friend.

I'm not one to showcase my kitchen. It's a tiny galley kitchen from 1982 with a ridiculously small amount of usable counter space (see above? That's it!), and it's darker than your most private thoughts. However, in the summer, around 7pm when the light is just right, the magic hour reaches all the way back into our little kitchen. I'm not going to go all Pioneer Woman on you, but figured you might want to see where all the magic happens.

lemon, parmesan & chickpea cabbage salad
(adapted from Molly Wizenberg)
1 head of cabbage, shredded
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
2 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1 clove minced garlic
salt & pepper

Make the dressing by adding the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper to a jar and giving it a good shake.

In a large bowl, add the shredded cabbage and the chickpeas and toss to combine. Pour over the dressing and the cheese and toss again. Season again if needed.

tahini ginger slaw

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the slaw pre-demolition. All I have left is a dirty bowl. Proof that the slaw was indeed delicious. I had been seeing a few coleslaw recipes popping up lately and I decided that I would use up whatever was in my crisper and make one big bowl of salad.

Throwing in the vegetables was easy. If I had it laying about, in in went. But for the dressing I was stumped. I didn't want to make a vinegar based dressing and a mayo-based one just didn't excite me. So after a bit of digging around, I found a small nub of fresh ginger and a half empty jar of tahini. I could definitely work with this! And oh boy, this dressing has some kick. The ginger adds a nice bite, the tahini makes it all creamy while the lemon juice adds some much needed sunshine. It was a slaw to be proud of!

I didn't use up all the dressing...just a tablespoon or so. The remainder of the dressing I covered with plastic wrap and into the fridge it went. But don't worry, I got some great use out of the remaining dressing. For what? Well, you'll just have to wait until my next post. So if you make this coleslaw, make sure to save your dressing. I promise another great dinner!

tahini ginger slaw
1/2 small head of red cabbage, shredded
1 jumbo sized carrot (like a really, really, really huge carrot - or several normal sized ones)
1/2 small, red onion, sliced thinly
1/2 red pepper, diced

dressing
1 T tahini
juice of half a lemon
1 t minced fresh ginger
1 t agave syrup
1/4 c olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste

Mix together all the vegetables into a large bowl. In a mixing cup or small bowl combine all the dressing ingredients. Pour dressing over salad (not all of it!) and let sit for a few minutes or just dig in!

Interested in more cabbage salads & slaws? Check out my archives:
Creamy Asian Slaw
Kitchen Sink Salad
Lemon Coleslaw
My Waldorf Salad
North Carolina Coleslaw
Peanutty Coleslaw

born in the 70's: braised green cabbage / brown rice with mushrooms

I curse the Vancouver winters for the short amount of daylight. Many days, we don't even get to see the sun...just grey, grey, grey. The lack of natural light (along with our apartment's low-energy bulbs) makes my photos brown and looking at them right now makes me feel like I'm back in the 70's. Throw on the corduroy, cozy up in an afgan and settle into an evening of orange and brown. The seventies weren't so bad, really. My mom took yoga and made her own yogurt and even took a self defense class where she could bust up a 2x4 with a swift kick and a power yell.

I made this brown meal after our trip to Portland. Too much good IPA and a stop (or two) for a Reggie Deluxe and we were glad to be back to the healthy drizzle of Vancouver. Portland was all about excess and this meal is about scaling back while still meeting the oh-so-important comfort quotiant. I've made Orangette's braised cabbage a few times and it's delicious. Sweet and soft and a meal in it's own right. And even if you are a bit ho-hum on cabbage, the braised carrots alongside are so rich and yielding that you can't believe that you just got all excited for a carrot.

But I didn't think the husband would be all that happy with a hunk of cabbage on his plate, no matter how bejewelled the carrots were, so I made some brown rice. After a quick look on the computer to see what I could add to make the rice a tad more appealing, I stumbled upon this recipe. Kalyn uses farro, but subbing in the brown rice was a perfect choice. The balsamic added a nice sweetness and tang to the dish and the brown mushrooms just multiplied the earthiness factor to the max. I threw in some barely steamed broccoli for crunch and colour and put on a little Jackson C Frank on the hi-fi. If a meal could make you feel healthy, wealthy and wise, this could be it. Ahhh, much better.

brown rice with balsamic, thyme and mushrooms
(recipe adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)
1.5 c brown rice
3 c vegetable broth
1 T olive oil
1/4 c diced red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 c sliced brown or button mushrooms
1 T fresh thyme, chopped (stems removed)
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

1. In a medium sized pot, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add brown rice, cover and turn heat down to medium. When all the broth has been absorbed, rice will be ready.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive in a large skillet. Saute onion, garlic and mushrooms and add in the thyme. When the mushrooms are soft and have released their juices, stir in the balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Add the brown rice into the mushroom mixture and mix until all the rice has been coated with the mushroom balsamic sauce. Serve.

braised green cabbage with onion, carrot and hot peppers
(adapted from Orangette)
1/2 green cabbage, cut into quarters with most of the woody core removed
1 onion, quartered
4 carrots, cut into 3 inch chunks
1 hot pepper, seeds removed and diced
1/4 c vegetable stock
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven at 325F. In a large oven proof dish, place vegetables into an even layer and cover with stock and olive oil. Give everything a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and cover tightly with a lid or foil. Bake for 1 hour and turn vegetables over if necessary, adding water if dry. Bake for another hour and then serve.

salad days: creamy cabbage slaw & a tuna sandwich

Okay, Another salad recipe since summer is creeping up quick. Last weekend was hot...this past week, not so much, but I have hope. This weekend promises sunshine and warmth and I'm eager for endless months of good weather. Of course, I live in the Pacific Northwest where hold-steady weather is just a pipe dream. Oh well. At least I have a cool summery slaw by my side.

This is pretty simple to whip up. Just chop up the vegetables thinly and you've got a nice treat. If my garden would start production, I would have thrown in some fresh dill but I made do without and this slaw still kicked butt.

creamy cabbage slaw
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
3 radishes, sliced paper thin
1/4 red onion, sliced paper thin
1 green onion, sliced thin
3 T cottage cheese
2 T sour cream
juice & zest of 1 lemon
salt & pepper

Mix everything in one large bowl. Toss well. Easy!

The photo above was Sunday's outdoor dinner. See my beet salad makes an appearance, so does the creamy slaw...but I also made another salad of sorts, a tuna fish salad sandwich. 3 salads for dinner! I had some cottage cheese to use up so instead of sticking with my standard tuna recipe, I played with this version from Simply Recipes and came up with an extra creamy sandwich. I used a green tarragon mustard so that added another dimension of flavour. It was pretty delish. Recipe below.

Notice the beer? This was just a local bottled pale ale but it does make a nice little segway into my latest post for the Food Network blog on cask ales. What's a cask ale? Why is it flat and warm? Is it delicious? Why not learn all about it over on the Food Network Canada site.

creamy tuna salad sandwich
1 can of tuna packed in water, drained
2 small green onions, chopped
1 T mayo
2 T cottage cheese
1 t tarragon dijon mustard
1 t lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1 t capers
salt & pepper to taste
your favorite toasted bread

Combine all ingredients and spread over your favorite toasted bread.

hide under a blanket of this: colcannon with leeks

Today kind of sucks. It's grey outside and I feel sluggish. Spending the rest of the day under a heavy wool blanket pulled over my head is pretty tempting right now. Instead, I'll write about this dish I made a couple of weeks ago. Just looking at it is almost enough to pull me out of the doldrums....almost.

Colcannon also known as bubble n' squeak is pure comfort food...potatoes and cabbage and a nice amount of butter to make the lumps go down easy. I decided to play with the good ol' Irish standby of Colcannon and its close relative Champ (which is potatoes mixed with chives or green onions) which have the onion-y bite that I love. For the onion-y bits, I used leeks instead seeing that it's a good, solid winter vegetable and can be found cheap and plentiful this time of year in local markets. I also never peel potatoes because I love that extra texture (and nutrients!) from the skin. Plus, since I used red potatoes, the jackets make the dish extra pretty.

Now, this should be a side dish served alongside of some sausages or roast chicken. But not for me. I like a mound of this served in a bowl, no other supplements needed. Like I said before, this is comfort food and for me, eating this along while watching some trashy television (like ANTM, for instance) is like being huddled under a giant woolen blanket. It's good company for the blahs.

colcannon with leeks
4 red skinned potatoes, cut into quarters
1/2 head of green cabbage, sliced
1 leek, (white and pale green parts only), cut into slices
1 c whole milk
4 T butter
salt & pepper

In a medium pot, boil up the potatoes. Meanwhile, combine milk, cabbage, leeks, half the butter, salt and pepper into a large pot and bring to a simmer. Cook until the cabbage is soft, about 15 minutes. When the potatoes are fork tender, drain well and add to the cabbage mixture. Mash with a potato masher, adding in remaining butter and more salt & pepper if necessary. Dim the lights, turn on the television and hunker down with a ol' big bowl full.

don't adjust your monitor: purple shepherd's pie

Forget about the fudge, the cake, the cookies. We are well into January now and it seems like a wholesome tasty dinner recipe is needed. If it's comforting, colourful and nutritious, well, then it kind of is like icing on the cake, isn't it? This meal fits the bill. I even give it bonus points because when I started boiling up the potatoes and chopping the red cabbage, I still had no idea—not even an inkling, of what I was going to make for dinner. I'm a bit spontaneous like that!


So elbow deep in shreds of purple, I decided I'd make a Shepherd's Pie of sorts. I haven't had much practice in the vegetable pie department, but I did make a very successful pate chinois a while back and figured I had the chops to handle dinner on the fly. So along with the red cabbage, I chopped up some celery, a red onion and got out some frozen corn from the freezer. I wasn't sure how this mess o' vegetables would come together, but it turned out way better than I could have ever imagined. Not only was dinner uber-delicious, it was also frighteningly colourful enough to beat the dickens out of grey January skies. Purple food? Why not!

And if purple vegetables aren't your thing, why not check out my new post over at Food Network Canada to read about my foray into adventurous dining at Vancouver's The Brave Bull's House of Steaks.


purple shepherd's pie
4 potatoes, quartered
2 T butter or Earth Balance margarine
3 T milk (rice or soy works well)

1 T olive oil
1/2 purple cabbage, chopped into strands
1 red onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 c frozen corn
1 t each dried thyme + basil
2 T hot sauce
salt & pepper
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 T olive oil
2 T flour, heaping
1/2 c vegetable stock

grated cheese (optional for top - I used smoked applewood cheddar)

1. Add quartered potatoes to salted boiling water. Cook until tender. Mash with butter and milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

2. In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in onions, garlic and celery and stir around until it starts to sweat. Add in cabbage and saute until everything gets slightly wilty, about 3-5 minutes. Add in herbs, hot sauce and corn and 1 and a half cups of vegetable stock. Salt and pepper if necessary. Bring to the boil.

3. Meanwhile, In a small saucepan, heat up 1 tablespoon of oil, add in 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk around quickly, taking care not to burn the flour. Slowly add in the remaining 1/2 cup of stock and whisk until thickened. Add this to the cabbage mixture, stirring until the sauce thickens up nicely.

4. Add cabbage mixture into an oven proof dish and top with mashed potatoes, spreading the top smooth. Add grated cheese to the top, if necessary, and bake in a 350 degree oven uncovered for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

i will survive: mediteranian tuna, cabbage, potato salad

I swear I'm not going to die of mercury poisoning by posting another tuna recipe in just a few short days...but if yer gonna go, maybe this is the way to do it. I should preface this post by mentioning that it wasn't my intention to eat canned tuna for lunch today. I already was feeling poisoned from the oil paint fumes from finishing my weekend paint the new dresser project and I just wanted something simple for lunch: boiled potatoes. That was going to be it. Comforting and soothing for an upset stomach and general wooziness. But somehow, things didn't work out like I had planned.

While the potatoes were a-boiling, I checked out the fridge and decided to add a bit more to my lunch plans. Half of a red cabbage was sitting in the fridge and I did have some remaining parsley and basil plants that needed plucking. And then I spotted that darned can of tuna up in the cupboard and in it went. I'm not looking back. This salad kicks mercury's ass around the corner. Filled with crunch from the cabbage, creaminess from the potatoes and tang from the dressing, it's the perfect lunch. And it was quick even with all the chopping...it took less than 10 minutes to put this together once the potatoes were cooked.


mediterranean tuna, cabbage, potato salad
8 baby potatoes, scrubbed
1/2 head of purple cabbage, sliced thinly
1/2 small red onion, diced
large handfuls each of parsley & basil, torn
1 can of tuna, drained
1/4 c olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 fat cloves garlic, crushed
1 t capers
salt & pepper

1. Boil the potatoes until fork tender. Drain. Toss the cabbage, tuna, onion and herbs together in a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Add in the garlic and capers and pour over salad.

3. Place a couple potatoes in a bowl and serve the salad over top. You could wait for flavours to meld and all that crap, or you could do what I did and just dig right in.

2 kinds of summer salads? Yes please!

Summer long weekends are the definition of perfection. With all the barbeques, picnics and friendly get-togethers, it's a perfect time for sharing food. We had our own little Canada Day celebration over the weekend and food (and beer) definitely played a large part of the fun. I whipped up this super quick and tasty potato salad for our bbq and it was pretty much gone by the end of the night.

creamy red, white and green potato salad
8 baby new potatoes
1 bunch radishes, sliced
1/2 english cucumber, quartered into chunks
1 bunch parsley, snipped
1 bunch dill, snipped
zest of 1 lemon
2 large dollops* mayo
1 large dollop* sour cream
salt & pepper

1. Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender. Cool and cut in half or quarters.

2. In a large bowl, gently mix together the potatoes, radishes, cucumbers, parsley, dill and lemon zest. In a seperate bowl, whip together the mayo and sour cream and pour over vegetables. Toss and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and serve.

- - -


This afternoon I felt like eating salad for lunch and then I spied this tasty looking gem of a recipe over at Simply Recipes. I made a few additions/substitutions and came up with my own version of a tasty asian slaw. I usually don't like going with a mayo dressing, but I did like combining the creaminess the mayo with the rest of the dressing ingredients. It was super delicious and Cornelius and I ate it all up until there was nothing left in the bowl. It was seriously that good.

creamy asian slaw
1/2 head of purple cabbage, shredded
4 green onions, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 bunch radishes, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 T toasted sunflower seeds
2 T toasted almond slices
2 T dried cranberries
Dressing:
2 dollops* mayo
2 T cider vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1 t sugar
1 t freshly grated ginger
a few shakes of toasted sesame oil
a few shakes of sirracha or the hot sauce of your choice

Toss together the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside. Whisk together the dressing and pour over salad. Add almonds, cranberries and sunflower seeds and toss to combine. Serve.

Looking for more summer salads? Look no further than some of my favorite archived recipes:
Colourful Chopped Vegetable Salad
Incredible Lemony Potato Salad
Light n' Creamy Potato Salad
Mexican Black Bean & Tortilla Salad
Peanutty Coleslaw
Potato & Sausage Salad
Roasted Tomato Pasta Salad
Red, White & Green Barley Salad

* hmmmm, dollop...a heaping teaspoon or tablespoon. you can be the judge...more dressing or less. it's up to you!

a lovely process

Last night I was planning to make this peanutty coleslaw recipe, however, Cornelius was re-organizing our office space and had to disconnect our internet connection. Instead of waiting around until he finished up, I decided to go it alone and managed to concoct the most yummy cabbage salad. I wish I could recall the exact measurements, but for me & peanut sauce, it's all a matter of taste and add more and taste again. Here's the basic "recipe":

peanutty coleslaw
In a small saucepan turned on low add in
a couple large spoonfuls of natural peanut butter
1 T grated fresh ginger
a few splashes of soy sauce
a couple spoonfuls of brown sugar
1 T molasses
2 cloves of crushed garlic
juice of 1/2 a lemon
a splash of cider vinegar
a few dashes of Sriracha
a pinch of salt
enough coconut milk to get it a nice consistency
and a bit of water to make it a little more runny

Taste and taste again. Does it need more heat? Add in a bit more Sriracha. More sweet? Add in extra molasses. I really like the taste of molass in peanut sauce as I think it gives the sauce added richness and depth to the flavour. When you achieve something delicious, turn off the heat and pour over some shredded green and purple cabbage, sliced green onions and diced carrots. I mixed the whole shebang together and let it marinate in the fridge for a little bit while the rest of my dinner cooked.

And while the salad was delicious for dinner, it was even better the next day for lunch. I shredded up some of our leftover chicken breast and mixed it up with the cabbage salad and enjoyed every peanutty bite.

spring and winter wrestle. winter wins.

I should be thinking about springtime and cherry blossoms and picnics, but instead of sunshine, today Vancouver was covered in that ol' familiar cloud cover. Go away, grey, we're sick of your drab! Maybe I should have searched the local markets for fresh asparagus to help lift my spirits, but instead I wallowed. And made soup. A hearty, wintery fare suitable for comforting long nights like your favorite worn sweater. So what if spring is on the doorstep, today I took the greyness and marched with it. This soup is comfort through and through. The key to the flavour of this soup is the mustard. I used my favorite dill mustard, but I'm sure dijon along with a drop of honey to mellow it out would work just as nicely.

cabbage, potato & chorizo soup
1 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small cooked chorizo sausage, diced
1 potato, diced
1/2 head of cabbage, diced
water
2 beef stock cubes
1 large pinch thyme
1/4 t chili flakes
1 T dill mustard
salt & pepper to taste
sour cream (optional)

In a large pot, saute the garlic and onion until translucent. Add in the chorizo, potato and cabbage and mix about until the cabbage gets wilty. Cover with water and add in the stock cubes, thyme and chili. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes to 40 minutes. Throw in a large dollop of mustard and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls topped with sour cream.

peasant fare: cabbage

St. Patrick's Day has come and gone and normally I don't do much for the holiday. I'm not Irish nor do I fancy to drink gut-rot green beer. However, I am a fan of cabbage and hey, isn't that something that ties my own Eastern European peasant roots with the Irish? Usually I stick with eating cabbage raw or lightly stir-fried but since it's March and still a bit rainy, I decided that braising some cabbage would be the way to go.

My dad was always a big cheerleader for cabbage. There were only a few things he would cook and everything was always based on his Lithuanian ancestry: potato pancakes, kugelis (a potato style baked pudding) and cabbage. When my dad would be at the stove, inside the huge stock pot was a mess of shredded cabbage, bacon, chopped apples and some top secret liquids that made everything tangy and sweet and pretty damn tasty. This isn't my dad's recipe, but it's pretty close, I think. I didn't add any apples, but I know from experience that they'd go well in this dish. It's great to eat immediately (and I've been known to drink the tangy cabbage liquids with a spoon right from the cooking pot) but it also gets better with age. If you want to make this vegetarian, substitute vegetable broth and add in some smoked paprika to replicate the smoky taste from the bacon.


braised red cabbage
1 head red cabbage, shredded
5 slices of bacon, diced
1 onion, sliced thin
3 T brown sugar
3 T dijon mustard
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
2 c chicken broth

1. In a large dutch oven, fry bacon until crispy. Add in onion and fry until wilted and soft. Add in shredded cabbage and toss the mixture around so that the cabbage picks up all those good bacony juices.

2. Add in the brown sugar and mustard and stir well. Add in the cider vinegar to help deglaze the pot and then add in the chicken broth and cover the dish. Simmer for about 1 hour.

who doesn't like cabbage?

This past long weekend, I made 2 different cabbage salads. The recipe below, I made as a side for some baked cornmeal-crusted fish and some oven baked fries. The other cabbage salad, I took to a picnic. I certainly can't pick a favourite since I love pretty much any cabbage salad put in front of me, but since the lemon coleslaw recipe was new to me, it's the one I'll post here.

The recipe as posted is directly from the Gourmet Cookbook. However, in my own kitchen, I made a few alterations, of course. I didn't have any sour cream, so I just skipped it. I also didn't add the sugar because I feel that low fat mayo already has WAY too much sugar for my own liking. I did add a dash of cider vinegar because I do like a zesty slaw but didn't add the extra water. Water? Why? Regardless, it was a really tasty salad and I ate up the leftovers with a buttery english muffin the next day.


lemon coleslaw
(from the Gourmet Cookbook)
2 T low-fat sour cream
2 t low-fat mayonnaise
1/2 t finely grated fresh lemon zest
4 t fresh lemon juice
1 t sugar
3 T water
1/4 t salt
1/8 t black pepper
1 lb green cabbage, thinly sliced (4 cups)
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced diagonally (1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, zest, lemon juice, sugar, water, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved.

2. Add cabbage, carrots, scallions, and parsley and toss well. Chill, covered, 1 hour to allow flavors to develop. Season with salt and pepper.

computer free to be you and me

I lost computer access for a little while, thinking my lovely computer was a dud, it had been to the apple shop going through diagnostic tests and turning up fine. Phew! It took a bit of getting used to being computer-free, but I not only adjusted to my new lifestyle, I embraced it! I picked up and finished books (many in the same day), I went on exciting bike rides and met up with friends to play in the sunshine. I also did quite a bit of leafing through cookbooks and did quite a lot of cooking. Being computer-free was time well spent! Luckily, I didn't miss any work or annoyed any clients by not being available and it was only when my picked up my computer on Monday afternoon, did a client ring up with a small job. Phew, again!

And because I've been away from the computer for so long, I'll quit my yapping and post 2 yummy recipes right away.

cabbage, spinach and tofu on noodles with peanut sauce
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, cut into squares
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced into strips and then cut in half to make shorter strips
1 bunch spinach, cleaned & picked through
1/2 onion, cut into large chunks
2 stalks celery, cut on the diagonal into thick slices
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh ginger, minced
soy sauce
whole wheat pasta or brown rice
1 t vegetable oil
lime wedges (optional)

for the sauce:
1/4 c natural peanut butter
1 T honey (or brown sugar if you swing vegan-style)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 t sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
hot sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar
warm water

1. In a blender, mix all the ingredients for the peanut sauce, adding a bit of warm water if the mixture gets too thick. Taste. You may need to add a bit more honey or hot sauce depending on your own tastebuds. Set aside.

2. Boil water in a large pot and add pasta at the boiling point. Drain and set aside.

3. In a large skillet or walk, heat the oil and add the garlic and ginger when hot. Add the tofu and fry until golden on both sides. Add the onion and celery and when the onion becomes translucent, add the cabbage. Once the cabbage gets slightly wilty, add the spinach and a bit of soy sauce for flavour. Stir until spinach is cooked, then turn off heat.

4. In large bowls, add the pasta and then top with the tofu-vegetable mixture. Drizzle with peanut sauce. Serve with lime wedges.

+++

Butter tarts seem to be a genuine Canadian invention. A mixture of eggs, sugar and raisins are baked into individual tarts and the result is similar to a pecan pie, but decidedly different. I love butter tarts and I still have yet to get over my fear of making pie dough, so I went a different route and opted to make a still very Canadian butter tart bar. Interested to know more about the butter tart? Listen to the CBC on what makes a great butter tart.

butter tart squares
base:
3/4 c flour
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c butter

topping:
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c corn syrup
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/4 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c raisins
1/4 c unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8 inch square cake pan. Beat butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Add flour and combine until crumbly. Press base mixture into prepared pan and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.

2. Combine topping ingredients and blend together until well mixed. Pour toppping over the base and return to the oven until bubbly around the edges but still slightly jiggly in the centre, about 20-25 minutes. Cool completely in pan and then cut into squares.

a salad fit for a domestic goddess

Summer's can be hot in the Northwest (no, really) and Friday night was no exception. I had a fridge full of fresh vegetables and figured making a salad would be the best option for dinner. I decided making Nigella's Vietnamese Chicken and Mint Salad since I had all the ingredients needed and more.

I had 3 free range chicken thighs in the fridge that needed tending to, so I put the chicken in water along with a few dried chili peppers, kafir lime leaves and a few dashes of fish sauce and set the whole lot to simmer. Once the chicken was cooked, i left them to cool in the fridge and I put the cooking liquid away in the freezer for another day.

I started by chopping up ½ a small green cabbage and ½ of a small purple cabbage into fine shreds and threw it into a large bowl. Next, I grated 2 large carrots and threw that on top of the cabbage. The green onions, ½ of a red and ½ of a green pepper were next and I chopped those up too. I rolled up a large handful of mint leaves into a cigar shape and cut that into a lovely chiffonade (!!) and tore off some Italian parsley off of their stems and threw them in too. The final step was shredding up my chicken thighs and then with my clean hands, I mixed everything all up and started on the dressing.

I followed the dressing pretty faithfully to Nigella's recipe, but I subsitituted the rice vinegar for some red wine vinegar since it was all that I had.

1 fat garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp rice vinegar
1 ½ tbsp lime juice
1 ½ tbsp Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce (nuoc nam or nam pla)
1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil

Once it was shaken up, I added it to the salad and me and Cornelius dug in. The next day I ate the some leftovers with some crushed peanuts on top for added crunch. Tasty!

poor girl

Returning from a month long holiday and paying for a wedding can really drain a girl's finances (as well as the finances of her newly betrothed). There isn't really much in our pockets for frivolous items and sadly, exciting (and usually expensive) treats from the market are also forbidden. I've been trying to be thrifty like my mother and make use of the food that already exists in our cupboards and refridgerator shelves. So far, i've been pretty successful.

The other day, one of my frugal successes came in the form of a variaton on a waldorf salad. I will try to recount the proportions accurately, but as I just winged it, it might be best to taste it as you go along. I really liked the addition of cinnamon as it gave more depth to the flavour.

My Waldorf Salad
1 granny smith apple, chopped
1 small head of green cabbage, chopped coleslaw style
1 small onion, diced fine
2 carrots, grated
1 small green pepper, diced
a handful of raisins
a handful of chopped walnuts

For the dressing, combine 1/4 cup of mayonaise with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. Add a heaping tablespoon of sugar, juice of 1 lemon and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and blend until combined. Taste! If it doesn't taste like you think it should, add more sweetener or more lemon juice (or vinegar) til you get it right. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix until throughly combined.

oh, i love cabbage!

As a teenager, I rebelled against this large round, leafy veg. It was boiled til it was soft and it left the house with an undeniable reek. Ewww.

Somehow the cabbage I knew as a teen isn't the same beast I have come to love and depend on for many a meal. Raw is usually how I love it and in a salad it can't be beat.

Tonight our apartment was sweltering with the start of summer heat and I will pass along my cabbage salad "recipe". I find i can throw in what I've got around the house and it will be delicious. If I have left over chicken or if I've got some bbq pork from chinatown, i'll throw it in. Tonight, it was a fully vegan affair using whatever random ingredients I had on hand.

kitchen sink cabbage salad
Chop a head of cabbage, coleslaw-style and throw into a large salad bowl (green/red or a combo is just fine). Add grated carrots (I used 2) and some finely chopped red onion (1/2 onion) and green pepper (1 pepper). Throw in some chopped granny smith apple (I used 2), raisins, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and honey-roasted peanuts. Toss well. For the dressing, i finely chopped some ginger & garlic and added some olive oil, soy sauce, juice of 1 lemon, hot sauce and some white wine. Once mixed into a lovely viscous liquid, I tossed the dressing with the salad and it was ready to serve.

Cornelius, my dinner guest Pam and myself devoured it. Crunchy, healthy and tasty!