the best tzatziki ever

Slowly but surely, I'm taking the cucumber plunge. You see, I've never been a big fan of them to begin with. A couple of years ago, I decided that I liked them in sandwiches...but only in sandwiches. Then this past summer, I tried them dipped into hummus. Uh, hello, it was yummy! Emboldened by this new found cuke-love, I decided that I would try my hand at tzatziki. You know, that Greek dip filled with cucumbers. See, when I get into something, I really dive in.

Initially, I was worried about texture. Slimy wasn't what I was looking for. I was also determined to make it to my own tastes which meant a lot of garlic and lemon and spice to enhance the experience. I said enhance not mask in case you are taking note. So I got started and strained my own plain low fat yogurt using a coffee pot and paper coffee filters. I've done it before and it works really well. Or you can just go ahead and use Greek yogurt which is thick and rich and pretty much perfect. Then you grate and drain the cucumbers of their excess moisture. After that, all the hard part is done. A bit of lemon here, a bit of dill and garlic there. Add in some kosher salt and spice to balance everything out and there you go. A dip of champions. Please note, that the photos were taken on New Years eve and I had a few Amaretto Sours alongside, so things aren't quite so photogenic - but don't let that turn you off. This tzatziki is amazing and I'm not just saying that because me and the cucumber are bffs 4 ever.

the best tzatziki ever
500 g tub of Greek yogurt, or strain a 900 g tub of plain yogurt (discard the liquid)
1/2 large english cucumber, seeds removed

2 T olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 of a red onion, finely minced
1 t kosher salt
lots of freshly ground pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t paprika
1 T dried dill
juice & zest of 1 small lemon

1. If you are using regular yogurt, you'll need to strain it through a coffee filter for about 2 hours to remove all the excess liquid as you want the yogurt to be nice and thick. If you are using Greek yogurt, no worries, you are good to go.

2. Grate the cucumber and place it in a mesh strainer and position the strainer above a bowl. Use a large spoon to press out all the water from the cucumber. Sprinkle a bit of salt over top the cucumber to let the water out quicker or just wait it out.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, dill and spices together. Add in the thick yogurt and stir well. Next, stir in the cucumber and lemon zest. Add in the juice of half of the lemon, stir and taste. Want more tang? Add in more juice. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Now go and dip to your hearts content.

whole grains & vegetable soup

Yesterday I woke up and my eyeballs hurt. I was also walking around like a zombie. Despite having a good night's sleep, I just couldn't seem to wake up, so doing things like talking to clients and working on design mock-ups took incredible amounts of effort.

I'm fighting a cold bug and I don't want it to win, so for lunch I whipped up this vegetable and whole grains soup. Loaded with dark leafy greens (kale to the rescue?), garlic and anything else I could find from the crisper and pantry, it was the perfect meal. And today I feel better. I don't know if it was the soup, or the copious amounts of water I drank, or even the vitamins that I popped, but for the sake of a happy ending, let's say it was the soup!

As today is Wednesday, you can find this cold-busting soup recipe over at Poppytalk. And if you have any leftovers, you can always eat this as soup. Or you could do what I did this past summer and turned soup leftovers into veggie burgers. Your call.

spicy roasted tomato & black bean soup

The pressure is on! Tomorrow is the first day of the Vancouver One of a Kind Show & Sale and there is all kinds of prep work that needs to be done. Walls are painted, shelves are installed, cards & birthday calendars are packaged up but there's also carpet and under pad to be laid, furniture to be set up and then just the general nervousness that comes with a big event. Let's just say that it's a soup kind of week.

Earlier , when my thoughts were still about what to eat for dinner than the panicky thoughts that are filling my brain at the moment, I roasted up some tomatoes, garlic, herbs and jalapeno peppers. At that point, I wasn't sure what I was going to make. A pasta dish maybe? But it had been a while since I had made soup, and when that thought entered my head, I just couldn't shake it. Into a stock pot these fragrant tomatoes and peppers went, along with some onions and celery for balance, some homemade stock and a can of black beans. A squeeze of lime near the end also didn't do this recipe any harm either. For the recipe, please head on over to Poppytalk.

So wish me well at the sale if you are from out of town, but if you are in Vancouver tomorrow until Sunday, please stop by our booth (we'll be at booth G18: The Hob Snobs Craft Collective). I'll be the nervous red-head wishing she had a bit of spicy soup to help calm her nerves.

stewed peppers, tomatoes & onions

There's a lot of good writing out there in the food blog world. I've laughed and I've even cried over someone's personal story telling. But this morning I went to my feed reader and read this post by Tea & Cookies. It touched me deeply. Beautifully written and ringing of truth, I had to comment. So please head over to Tea's blog, read her words and let me know if it stirred similar feelings.

While I feel so many of the same things that Tea has mentioned in her post, I don't have an answer. While I know the life I am living right now is based on my choices, I should feel 100% satisfied and lucky. And most days I am. I love where I live, I love my friends, I'm proud of the work that I accomplish. And my husband? I couldn't imagine a life without him holding my hand, laughing at my tasteless jokes and loving me for who I am. But then there are other days when doing the simplest things seems too overwhelming.

This blog is a comforting place. It started off as a creative outlet, as a way to get back to writing, like in the days when I used to self-publish my own photocopied and stapled zine. It provides relief from my day to day, but sometimes because of life, it gets placed on the back burner. I'm not writing as much (or as well) as I used to, I'm feeling distracted and sometimes writing a post is like checking of an item on my to-do list. It's not a great feeling. All I know is that it's a busy time right now and soon enough I'll find my way back here with a full heart and a full belly. But on with the food, it's why you came here after all!

I made this meal yesterday for dinner and it was the perfect thing. Just fresh peppers from a Chinatown market, a plain old yellow onion, a couple of eggs, and a can of tomatoes from the cupboard. Elements that don't seem like much, but when put together and heated gently for about an hour, turns into something almost magical. Not bam-pop-wow magic, but the kind you feel from inside. It is warmth and comfort and it just feels right. Like a cardigan and knee socks and crisp leaves underfoot. Like hand-holding. And so I hope this blog will continue to feel as comforting and tasty as this meal. Just please forgive my table manners once and a while.

stewed peppers, tomatoes & onions
1 T olive oil
1 large onion or 2 small ones, sliced thinly
4 large cloves garlic, sliced
4 large peppers (any colour), sliced
1-2 red dried chilis, crumbled
1/2 t salt
1 can of 28oz tomatoes, diced
4 eggs, optional

In a large dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat and saute dried chili peppers, garlic and onion until soft, translucent and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Add in peppers and salt and stir occasionally until they soften up a bit. Throw in the tomatoes and combine. Cover for 45 minutes until everything gets soft and melty, stirring up everything when you remember.

If you want to poach the eggs in the sauce, I recommend it. Make 4 indentations with your wooden spoon and crack open an egg into each slight divet. Cover and cook until the whites firm up but the yolks are still runny. Gently ladle into big bowls. Serve with crusty bread.

If you skip the eggs, serve this with crusty bread or with over polenta, on top of pizza or use as a lasagna sauce. I've eaten this every which way and it's always good.

bold green beans

When I get green beans, I usually end up making my usual snacking lemon-garlic beans. I LOVE them so much that I'm starting to see green beans in a one-track kind of light. When I got some beautiful, crazy long (but not Asian long) green beans in my CSA share, I tried something new. I still wanted that zing and that bite that my dream beans give me, but I wanted some new flavours. Let me introduce you to these bold babies. They are perfect. Crunchy from a quick steam and a toss of sauteed walnuts and they also have power, thanks to garlic and ginger. For the recipe, you'll have to head over to Poppytalk and get it there.

Want more green bean recipes from my archives?
Green Bean Bundles
Green Beans & Tofu in a Thai Coconut Sauce
Green Bean Quinoa Salad
Colourful Chopped Vegetable Salad
Pasta Primavera

the magical mysterious chimichurri sauce and 2 easy recipes

I've been wanting to try a chimichurri sauce for a while now. From what I had read, it's a traditional Argentinian sauce and marinade for grilled meats, but is used in many Latin American countries. It's traditionally made with parsley or cilantro, garlic, salt, pepper, onion and paprika with a huge glug of olive oil thrown in for good measure. I decided to try my luck with this sauce since I had a very nice looking grass-fed and organic slab o' rib eye in the fridge. But I didn't want to only try it out with meat. Surely, this chimichurri would be great as a salad dressing too! So I improvised with what I had and made a very delicious and maybe not so traditional take on this Argentinian classic.

The sauce itself was really easy to prepare. I just gathered the ingredients together and whizzed them up with my immesion blender. In less than a minute, I had a heavenly scented sauce that tasted like the heat of summer. It's a really fresh-tasting condiment that tastes as green as it looks (in a very, very good way!)

chimichurri sauce
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch cilantro
4 cloves garlic
1 hot pepper, de-seeded
lemon zest & juice of 1/2 lemon
large pinch of salt
1 - 3 large glugs of olive oil
1 shallot, roughly chopped
water, if needed to thin things out

Whizzz up all ingredients in a blender. Taste and adjust seasonings & measurements if necessary. Done. Makes almost a cup of sauce.

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So while the main reason for the making of the chimichurri was as a marinade and sauce for the steak, I had sauce left over and decided that it would make perfect salad dressing. I was right. Once, the dressing is prepared, the rest of the salad is a breeze. I decided to peel the carrot into ribbons and it was a nice touch, though you could easily dice them for a different texture.

chimichurri chickpea salad
1 can of chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 carrot, peeled into ribbons
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 spicy red pepper, minced & deseeded
1/4 c chimichurri sauce (recipe above)

Mix up all the ingredients and serve in a pretty dish. Serves 4. Easy.

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Okay, now for the main event! If you are a meat-lover, bask in this meaty love, please. If you are not, there's a reason I stuck this at the end of the post! Avert your eyeballs! The secret to a good steak? Start with a good steak! Really, don't buy some cheap-ass cut from your supermarket. Splurge and get one really nice steak, grass-fed organic if you can afford it. You really don't need a steak each...just share one steak. Trust me, with some wine, a nice loaf of bread and a salad, you've got a perfect meal and no one will want for more. But back to the chimichurri sauce for one last time...the quick marinade packs a punch. Reserve some of it to serve as a sauce to drizzle over top. You won't regret it.

chimichurri rib-eye steak
1 T butter
1 rib eye organic grass-fed steak (or other fine cut)
1/4 c chimichurri sauce (recipe above) + extra for serving

Slather sauce over rib eye and let sit for a few minutes. Heat up butter in a cast iron pan. When it's good and bubbly, add steak. Cook on 1 side for 6 minutes. Flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let rest for 8 minutes (I just made up that amount but it sounds about right). Dig in and serve with remaining chimichurri sauce. Serves 2.

it's halloween: vampire soup

I'm not one for kitchy names, but I had this soup for dinner last night and it's one and only purpose was to get rid of a cold. I woke up feeling under the weather and I didn't want to get sick, so I culled all the vegetable remains in my crisper along with a little bit of bacon and got to work. While chopping the vegetables, I decided that instead of just a few cloves of garlic, I'd add in the whole head. Perfect for fighting off vampires and nasty bugs. And just to add in a bit of Eastern European flavour, I threw in 2 different kinds of Hungarian paprika. The soup was good and hearty and today I woke up feeling much, much better.

I'm not going to give you the recipe because while the soup was good, it's a good example of taking random ingredients and making dinner without a recipe. So instead of a recipe, you'll get just a minimal guide and hopefully a kick in the pants to get you started to make your own soup. Soup is easy and usually ends up turning out well if you just remember to taste as you go along. For this soup, I had half a parsnip, 2 strips of bacon, a quarter head of red cabbage, half an onion, a couple stalks of celery, a can of chickpeas, a near empty bag of pasta, along with some homemade turkey stock. These ingredients were chopped, sauteed and the liquids reduced before I had my first taste. It needed more, so in plopped a large squirt of ketchup for zing and after tasting it again, I added in a large spoonful of sweet paprika and another large spoonful of a smoked hot paprika. Now I was getting somewhere. I added in half the garlic at the beginning and half near the end. For me it was important to really taste the garlic and have it fresh so it could kick start it's fighting powers. The ingredients themselves don't inspire very much on their own, but put them together in a haphazard way, tasting as you go along and boom! You've got some mighty fine soup.

And yes, I'm giving this vampire soup all the credit. This soup warded off the evil and now I'm ready to make some caramel apples and watch horror movies all night with friends. Happy Halloween!!

Want a recipe for soup? Check out these winter-warming recipes from my archives:
African Yam & Peanut Soup
Black Bean Pumpkin Soup
Cabbage Potato & Chorizo Soup
Italian Minestrone with Beans, Pasta and Chard
Red Lentil Soup with Lemon
Winter Vegetable Soup

eat hungrily: chickpea & romaine salad with lemon-parmesan vinaigrette

It's hot. Finally. And I'm sucking back a homemade popsicle just so that I can cope with the heat a little better. You see, there are very few places in Vancouver that have air conditioning (the joys of a temperate climate), so we just make do. Homemade popsicles, ice tea in tall glasses beaded with sweat, finding a shady spot for a barbecue. Anything to avoid that large, glaring appliance, the stove.

This meal was made after a rousing game of tennis. Cornelius and I were hot, tired and sweaty. We were also famished and turning on the stove wasn't an option. Not at all. So I dug around the cupboard and fridge and made this salad. It was perfect. Bright with lemon juice but with a creamy balance from the parmesan. Quick to prepare and easy to love. I declare this the salad of my summer. Let the hot, hot days of summer continue.

More salads for when turning on your oven isn't an option:
canelli bean and tuna salad
colourful chopped vegetable salad
incredibly lemony potato salad
mixed bean salad
refrigerator pickles

chickpea & romaine salad with lemon-parmesan vinaigrette
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1 lemon, zested & juiced
1 clove garlic, minced
a good pinch of kosher salt
1/4 t red chili flakes
good olive oil
2-3 T parmesan cheese
1 head of romaine, rinsed and torn into bite sized pieces

Add the chickpeas to a large bowl. In a small jar, mix together the lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt and chili flakes and pour in enough olive oil so that it doubles the amount of lemon juice. Pour over the chickpeas. Add in lettuce and parmesan cheese and toss until well combined. Eat up, hungrily.

i love the beets & the beets love me

I've always been a fan of the beet. I love their sugary sweet flavour after they've been roasted in the oven and I love how they turn everything on your plate a deep shade of pink. I've turned a simple ho-hum hummous into an electric shade of fuchsia just by pureeing a small roasted beet into the chickpea-tahini mix. Even my colourful lunch (leftovers from last night's meal) turned into a veritable rainbow with the addition of a few baby beets.

For the longest time, I used only the beets but had no idea what to do with the leaves...so into the compost bucket they went. However, emboldened by an article about eating what I was throwing away, I steamed them up and served them with a bit of butter. Amazing! Tangier and bolder than spinach, they were much more "meatier" than I expected and a hundred times more delicious. Similar in taste to kale, I quickly became a beet green convert and tried to get others into the fold. However, when it comes to beets and their greens, there aren't very many willing converts. When I'd wax poetically about the red root, people wouldn't hear it. Instead, they'd tell me all kinds of horror stories about how their mothers would force feed them beets until all their bodily fluids would turn red from the trauma. Hmph! Sometimes you just don't know what you're missing.

sauteed beet greens with lime and garlic
1 bunch of beet greens & stems, rinsed and torn into bite-sized pieces
1 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
juice of half a lime

1. Heat olive oil and garlic in a large pan. When garlic becomes fragrant, add in the beet greens. They might splatter a bit, but it will all simmer down shortly. Turn down the heat and squeeze some lime juice into the mix and let the leaves and stem wilt for a few minutes until tender.

southern hospitality

Last night I felt inspired enough to make an entire meal with drinks, a main course, a couple of sides and a dessert. It even had a Southern theme! Unfortunately, my camera died before I could take a photo of everything plated, but rest assured, it was a sight to behold. Truely.

The first undertaking was drinks and since it was a southern meal, I decided to make some lemon iced tea. I don't like to add a lot of sugar, so please adjust to your own taste buds.

lemon ice tea

• I set my kettle to boil
• put 2 orange pekoe tea bags in my pitcher
• added the juice of 2 lemons and the hollowed out lemon carcasses (for extra lemony flavour, dontcha know)
• dumped in a 1/4 c of white sugar and poured the boiling water over the whole lot. I topped up the pitcher with cold water and stirred everything around. When the tea bags had finished their steep, I removed them from the pitcher and just let the mixture cool on the counter before refrigerating

...

With my drinks taken care of, I was onto part two of this southern feast:

pulled pork sandwiches
I didn't really know what I was doing since I came up with this one on the fly, but it turned out nicely. Cornelius commented that this tasted like real barbeque, so I think I did good.

I took a pork loin and marinated it with a lot of crushed garlic, some chipotle powder, cumin, mexican chili powder, dried thyme and a bit of salt. After a couple hours of fridge-sitting, I popped the entire thing into a small covered roasting pan and into the oven for about an hour at 450 degrees. I then mixed together some ketchup, yellow mustard, honey, brown sugar, worchestershire sauce, cider vinegar and some xxx hot sauce and poured it over the pork. I dropped the oven temperature to 350 degrees and cooked it for half an hour before taking it out of the oven and shredding it all together into one big shredded porky mess of tasty goodness. Back in the oven for another half hour before we served this on whole wheat hot dogs buns (seriously, it was all we had & the meal didn't suffer from it one bit).
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I figured a potato salad was in order and I wanted something nice and light tasting. I had bought a whole wack of lemons (14 for $2) earlier in the day, so I figured I'd make up a lemon vinegrette and see what would come of that. The results? So fresh and tasty that the world "incredible" came up more than once.

incredible lemony potato salad
6 small yukon gold potatoes in their skins
2 stalks of celery with leaves, diced and leaves roughly chopped
1 large lemon, juiced and zested
1/4 c olive oil
1 t honey (or white sugar, if vegan)
1 t dijon mustard
1 small bunch of basil, torn
1 T capers
pepper and rock salt

1. Boil potatoes whole in their skins until done. Cool slightly and cut into large cubes. Place in bowl. Add chopped celery.

2. Mix together lemon juice, olive oil, honey and dijon into a dressing and pour over potatoes.

3. Tear basil leaves over top of salad. Add capers, lemon zest, freshly ground pepper and rock salt. Mix. Cool in fridge until ready to serve.
...

I've posted this recipe before, but it's so good that I have to post it again. An Everybody Likes Sandwiches first. It's that good. Actually, this time I used less lemons (last time I used 2), but even with just 1 fat lemon it was all good. It's the perfect snack or side dish for hot weather because these beans are eaten icy cold so it's the perfect foil for the heat of summertime.

Lemony-Garlicy Green Beans
1 lb of fresh green beans, trimmed
2 cloves of garlic, minced (1 clove if you aren't among friends)
1 fat lemon, juiced
2-3 T of olive oil
rock salt

1. Steam the green beans until bright green and crisp. You don't want to over cook these. Crisp = delicous! Drain and rinse in cold-cold water. At this point, I put the beans in the freezer just to get extra cold while I mixed the dressing.

2. For the dressing, mix the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together. Transfer beans into a nice serving dish and pour dressing over top. Return to the fridge for extra coldness. Sprinkle generously with rock salt and serve. It's better than chips. Seriously.
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Okay, I lied about making dessert. I was fully planning on making a rhubarb and strawberry cobbler but after such a feast, Cornelius and I decided that adding dessert would be way too much. So we played board games and sipped homemade ice tea instead. I think we made the smart choice. The rhubarb can wait another day.

summer living at it's best

Ooooh, I'm pretty excited! I should have my camera back tommorrow, so it will be back to all the photographic food porn you know & love. Did I really promise technicolour cupcakes? Hmmmmm.

The sun has come back and the weather is all nice and warm and it's just the perfect time to relax in a hammock tied between two shade trees and an icy bottle of beer in hand. Unfortunately for me, the hammock and shade trees remains a dream but the bottle of beer is chilling as we speak. Oh the blight of urban living! The good news is that there is a beautiful park outside my front door and picnic season is here (at least for the moment!)

Tonight's dinner was settled in a flash. We had some fresh sole filets that were just waiting to be used and because the weather is so nice, I figured that some fish tacos would be just the ticket. Plus, they'd be sweet with a couple of icy cold beers. Sho' nuff. These babies were yummers!

fish tacos with garlic-cumin yogurt sauce
2 white fish filets (I used sole)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c cornmeal
1/2 c panko breadcrumbs
1 t chipotle powder
1 t chili powder
1/2 t salt
1 T oil

1 small container of fat free plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 T cumin

flour or corn tortillas

1 large juicy tomato, diced
1 ripe avocado, diced
1/4 head cabbage or lettuce, shredded
1 lime cut into quarters

1. Cut the fish into managable strips. Mix the cornmeal, breadcrumbs, chipotle powder, chili powder and salt together. Dip fish into egg and then dredge in the cornmeal mixture.

2. Heat oil in a large cast iron pan and when hot, add the breaded fish. Turn fish over when golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pan.

3. Prepare sauce by mixing the crushed garlic, yogurt and cumin together.

4. Heat tortillas over a gas flame until softened and slightly charred. Assemble tacos with the fish, cabbage, tomatoes, avocado and drizzle with the garlic sauce & squeeze a bit of lime juice over top.

easy peasy snacks

Last night we had some friends over. They brought over the 1958 Newport Beach Jazz Festival dvd and the Monterrey Pop Festival dvd. We promised them snacks. Because it's been so hot, I didn't really want to do any serious cooking or baking, so I came up with 2 tasty and super-easy snacks.

Snack no.1: Popsicles
Start this one early in the day, so you can eat them by nightfall. In a blender, put in the following: a handful of frozen strawberries, homemade lemonade to cover berries and then some, and 2-3 tablespoons of vanilla yoghurt. Blend at high speed until mixed. You may have to add some more lemonade if it's too thick. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze. Ultra delicious.


*note: You can substitute any kind of berry or juice to this "recipe". I've made it with orange juice, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, etc. and have used blueberries, black berries, bananas (for cornelius only, cuz i hate them!), or peaches.

Snack no. 2: Lemony-Garlicy Green Beans
1 lb of fresh green beans, trimmed
2 cloves of garlic, minced (1 clove if you aren't among friends)
2 lemons, juiced
2-3 T of olive oil
rock salt

Steam the green beans until bright green and crisp. You don't want to over cook these. Crisp = delicous! Drain and rinse in cold-cold water. At this point, I put the beans in the freezer just to get extra cold while I mixed the dressing. For the dressing, mix the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together. Transfer beans into a nice serving dish and pour dressing over top. I tossed the beans and the dressing together with my hands. Sprinkle generously with rock salt and serve. It's better than chips. Seriously.


* these are the left over beans from last night. the lemon juice "cooked" them so they aren't so crisp or green, but they still are tasty! also, you may find them too lemoney, and if so, cut down on the lemon juice.