Lex Culinaria

Just in time for summer

I found a great little tool that lists all the farmer's markets in Edmonton (or anywhere else in Alberta if you ask it to) complete with hours of operation & a map to get you there. How easy does that make getting great local produce?

Check it out HERE.

March menu: Warm Salmon Nicoise

Since having Baby Cakes, I've discovered that popping out to the grocery store is not the easy task it used to be.

In an effort to reduce the numerous trips to the grocery store necessitated by my tendency to cook whatever I want, whenever it suits me, I'm experimenting with setting weekly menus that I can shop for all at once. So far so good. I've avoided repeated trips to the grocery store and have tried out a few yummy new (fast!) recipes. Last week, among other things, I made a really delicious & simple salmon Nicoise. The fact that it's pretty healthy too is just a bonus. You can serve it warm, as I did, or chilled. It tastes even better the next day, so would make an excellent brunch dish or packed lunch. I didn't do a traditional Nicoise salad dressing with anchovies because I had just made up a huge batch of this dressing for having on hand, and it went wonderfully.

This one is definitely going in the rotation!

400 gm (about 12-14) new potatoes, any variety, halved
250 gm fresh green beans, topped & tailed
1/2 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons capers (salt rinsed off), minced
1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
2 large ripe tomatoes, in thin wedges
20 large pitted olives (whatever kind you like), halved

(90 ml) 1/3 cup of Glen's Mama Ro's Wicked Salad Dressing.

4 salmon fillets (you could also use halibut or tuna)
1 lemon
salt & pepper

Put a cold pot of salted water on the stove and place the eggs in it. Bring it to a boil, cover with a lid and remove from heat. Allow to stand for 9  minutes. Remove the eggs from the water. Set aside.

Return hot salted water to stove and bring to a boil again. Drop halved potatoes into the boiling salted water. After 5 minutes drop in sliced fennel. After 5 minutes more, drop in green beans. Reduce heat and simmer 5 more minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through but still firm and fennel and beans are also cooked. Drain vegetables and rinse under lukewarm water to stop the cooking, but allowing the vegetables to remain warm. Toss in a bowl with the onions, parsley, olives , capers and tomatoes. Toss with dressing . Set aside.

Peel cooked eggs and slice lengthwise into quarters. Set aside. Heat a large nonstick pan, sprayed with oil, over medium high heat. Cook the salmon steaks on each side until cooked, about 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. sprinkle fish with salt and pepper and squeeze lemon over it.

Spoon marinated salad onto 4 salad plates or soup plates.

Chop or break up the cooked fish and distribute over the tops of the salad. Top each serving with 4 quarters of egg.

Vegetarian Tostadas: Fiddly but worth it

Last weekend I splurged a little and bought 4 new cookbooks. Of those 4, three were from the Williams-Sonoma Savoring series. I promptly sat down and flipped through each. Halfway through the Appetizers book I spotted a vegetarian tostada recipe and decided it was going to be dinner one night this week. Never being one to feel constrained by someone else's recipe instructions, what I made was a bit different from what was written in the book, but it did turn out beautifully and, despite the amount of prep-work involved in dicing and cooking 8 assorted vegetables separately, I reckon I'd make it again in a heartbeat. The sauce isn't spicy at all, but has a great Latino chili flavour. If you can't find dried Latino chillies where you are, you can order them online for next to nothing. Although, if you can get them in a place like Edmonton, you can probably get them anywhere.

I usually buy my Latino cooking supplies at Edmonton Latino on 118 Avenue at about 101 Street, just behind NAIT. They sell really excellent Mexican chocolate disks for making Mexican hot chocolate there, as well as dried Ancho chilies, annatto paste, several kinds of masa harina and lots of good brands of refried beans. You can also get masa flour at Superstore and tostadas can be found at Save-On. For this recipe you can use tostadas, which are crisp corn tortillas about 5" in diameter, or you could substitute small (5") soft flour tortillas, which don't make quite as much mess. Feel free to also substitute any of the vegetables for what you have on hand or enjoy and lastly, if you can't find decent refried beans, you can make your own pretty easily. There are about a zillion recipes available online.  I reckon these would make excellent party food if you made tart cases out of cut tortillas or some such....

Sauce

• 6 large dried Mexican chilies (Ancho, Guajillo, or New Mexico or a combination - I used half Guajillo and half Ancho)
• 6 large cloves garlic (roasted if you can be bothered), crushed
• 5 Tablespoons white vinegar
• largish pinch ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 teaspoons ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt

Vegetables

1/2 pound each, diced:

•     new potatoes
•     fresh green beans (trimmed)
•     carrots (peeled)
•     baby zucchini
•     chayote squash
•     sweet potato

• 1/2 cup small cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• salt

Tostadas

• 12 good quality 5" corn tostadas (or tortillas)
• 1 tin refried beans
• 1/2 lb queso fresco ( you can substitute feta or goats cheese)

Trim stems off the chilies, cut in half and roll them in your fingers to dislodge most of the seeds. Place them in a shallow bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to soak 20 minutes. Drain and reserve water.

Place soaked chilies and the remaining sauce ingredients in a food processor, mini chopper or blender. Whiz to form a sauce, adding as much additional chili-soaking water as needed. Strain through a mesh sieve and set aside.

Make sure all your veggies are diced roughly the same size. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil and set a large metal bowl full of cold water to the side. Cook diced potatoes for 5 minutes, use a slotted spoon or small sieve to transfer them to the cold water to stop their cooking. Repeat with green beans & carrots (4 minutes cooking time) and  zucchini, sweet potato, chayote (3 minutes cooking time). When all veggies have been cooked and cooled, drain and dry on a kitchen towel. Toss with tomatoes, onions and sauce, set aside.

Spread each tostada/tortilla with a tablespoon or two of beans, top with a mound of vegetables and sprinkle over some of the cheese. Serve cold.

The "V" word

Since we had the baby I've become keenly aware that practically everything we eat, sleep in, drink from, floss with or inhale is toxic. We're bombarded daily with the message that everything we do (and above all everything we eat) is bad for us and we'd best make sweeping changes to our homes, work, diet etc. lest we perish horribly in the very near future. Oh, and would we please buy this uber-expensive solution to our mortal peril.

I am a skeptic, especially as regards this zealous North American fear mongering about everything in existence. I am also a person who does not *ahem* take orders very well...or in fact at all. So this veritable avalanche of frequently alarmist (and not infrequently biased, green-washed) information is kind of grating on my nerves at the moment.

The problem is, as a new mother you're bombarded not only by the media, but by everyone else around you. People you normally like start proselytizing about the horrors of plastic and how disposable diapers will leach dioxins directly into your baby's tender little bottom. I've had it up to the gills with hearing about this stuff and especially hearing others list off, for the millionth time, all the steps you should be taking to protect your darling. I mean, honestly, who cares if your q-tips are organic?

Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time with the "V"-word. I can certainly rattle off a string of expletives that would curl my mother's hair. Well, if it weren't already curly. But I can't bring myself to say the "V"-word, lest I sound like one of those crazy Type-A Consumers who will have to take out a mortgage to pay their grocery bill because they'll only shop at a well-known lifestyle/image store masquerading as an actual healthier alternative to mainstream groceries. I buy from farmers markets, because I like knowing where my food comes from and because I think it tastes better. I am not, however, about to buy that $6 imported organic mango out of a sudden fear of pesticides because, come on - flying a fruit halfway around the world isn't exactly "organic", is it?

I guess I can't ignore some things much longer though. After my husband, having perused the weekly menu up on the white-board beside the fridge,  asked rather directly, "where's the meat?", I can't help but notice that we've been eating a lot less of the red stuff and a lot more of the green stuff lately. Not that it was ever a conscious decision...it's just sort of evolved that way over the last couple of years.

So no, I'm not a vegetarian. And I most certainly am not one of those "I'm a vegetarian, but I eat chicken and fish" sorts either. In fact, I'm going to cook me up a great big steak now. Bloody rare too. Well, I would, except I'm rather stuffed full of refried beans and avocado...

Fragrant tomato and beef kofta

Type "Kofta recipe" into Google and see how many different cultures claim it as theirs: Greek, Turkish, Indian, Lebanese... the list is larger than that, I assure you. For me, kofta will always mean onion-y meat balls in a cinnamon-spiced tomato sauce topped with a runny poached egg.

I first had something similar at Bedouin Kitchen in Melbourne, and lately I've been making it at home, based on a recipe from Greg Malouf. I know you're supposed to use ground lamb for kofta - it's just that it's hard to come by decent ground lamb here, and I happen to have an embarrassing quantity of ground beef in the freezer, so ground beef is what I've been using (and honestly, I quite like it).

This is a great savoury, saucy dish for winter. It's exotic enough to be impressive for a dinner party and looks smashing served up in teeny little individual lidded casseroles. The cinnamon makes a divine smell when you lift off the lid, allowing the steam to billow out.

I like to serve this with a gorgeous creamy feta, tzatziki & garlic mashed potato and a tangy fattouche salad and a stack of warm, fresh pitas to sop up all that gorgeous sauce. In the photo above, there was no poached egg, but I do generally serve it with a quivering egg perched on top, ready to ooze creamy yolk all over the top of the sauce.

(adapted from Greg Malouf's Arabesque)

For the meatballs:

• 500 g ground beef, lamb or a combination
• 1 medium yellow onion, minced (I just whiz mine in the food processor)
• 3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 egg
• salt & pepper
• canola oil for frying

for the sauce:

• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 large yellow onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 (796 ml) can pureed/crushed tomatoes
• 1 (398 ml) can diced tomatoes
• 2.5 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup corriander, chopped
• 6 eggs

Meatballs: Combine all meatball ingredients, other than the oil, in a large bowl and use your (clean) hands to squish all the ingredients together until the meat is sticky and pasty and well combined. Heat oil in a large frying pan. Fry meatballs on medium-high heat until well browned and thoroughly cooked. The better cooked they are the better they will hang together in the sauce. Set aside

Sauce: In a large pot (preferably a dutch oven) over medium high heat, saute onions, garlic and spices several minutes until they begin to colour and soften, stirring often.add remaining ingredients (except herbs and eggs) and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook for 5 more minutes. Make six depressions in the top of the sauce with the back of a soup spoon. Break the eggs gently into the depressions, place the lid over the sauce and eggs and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the eggs are set but yolks are still runny. Sprinkle the fresh herbs over ands serve straight from the pot.

Where do I start?

When I take a break, planned or not, from blogging for a few weeks, that doesn't mean I stop cooking and taking photos and tweaking recipes, scribbling on whatever is at hand. I still do all those things but, at the end of the break, I end up with a raft of intended posts and delicious photos and no idea where to start. Which is the dilemma I have now.

It's been a pretty busy few weeks chez Lex & Cakes. Cakes went back to work full time at the beginning of January and I have had a crash course in caring for a very active (and darling) baby all by myself. I realize that lots of mums do this right from the get-go, but it was nevertheless a bit of a shock and a lot more hard work than I anticipated. All of a sudden, I don't have that extra pair of hands around the house & I have to live my life (and cook, and clean, and shower) in 15 minute increments. So there hasn't been a lot of time to post.

I think I'm getting into a bit of a groove now though. I hope. At least until the next set of teeth come.

One of the meals that's been getting made a lot around here came from the little cookbook that I put together for the ladies in my Mum's group. We all contributed a few recipes for favourite family meals and i pasted them all together in a purty little booklet. Most of the recipes (including mine!) are of the family casserole/one dish genre, which is great for mums with little babies (including me!).  One of those recipes has quickly become a favourite in our house. It's really exceptionally flavourful, dead easy to make and is loaded with veggies. And if I mash a little with the back of my fork, Baby Cakes happily gobbles it up along with the rest of us.

African Stew

• 1 teaspoon Olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 large yam or sweet potato, cubed
• 1 large waxy potato, cubed
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• ½ green, red or yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini, cut in quarters lengthwise and then sliced in fat chunks
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ cups strong chicken broth (if I'm using regular broth, I just simmer it for a bit to concentrate it a bit)
• 1 980 ml can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 540 ml (19 oz) can chickpeas, drained (optional -  I don't add it as I really don't care for chickpeas)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 2 teaspoons ginger, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried ground ginger)
• ¼ teaspoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter

Heat olive oil in a large pot and add onion, potato, sweet potato, celery, pepper and garlic. Cook & stir for a few minutes.

Add broth, tomatoes, zucchini, chickpeas and spices. Let simmer for 25 minutes. Add raisins, peanut butter and tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes more. Stir through lime juice. Serve.

Did you think you'd escape my first post back in a while without a photo of the Baby Cakes? Silly you.

Home made

My husband has often remarked that John Seymour missed out in not marrying me. Leaving aside the obvious generational problem, I'd mostly agree. I have this very odd drive to make "homemade" everything. I make ricotta, yogurt, cheese, sausage, soap, and I'm sure I'd give bacon and a clay brick oven a try if I had the time. I certainly have the inclination it would seem. I've always been fascinated with making my own "stuff". I go through phases where I do a lot of DIY things and then I run out of energy, but I always seem to come back to it. Lately I've been making a lot of ricotta, soap and yogurt. Not necessarily together or in that order.

There's something very satisfying about making your own basic things. I'm a firm believer that these things taste, smell and perform better than store-bought stuff. Plus there's the whole romantic, faux-pioneer thing to it.

I do especially love good heavy, creamy homemade yogurt. You're not going to find this stuff in any store. You could add some crushed pureed fruit or homemade jam to make a fruit yogurt, but I really love this just the way it is over granola or with a bit of brown sugar and a few nuts over the top of it.

I don't use a yogurt maker. I've never seen the need. In fact I abhor single purpose appliances. There's not much you can't do with just a blender, a food processor and a KitchenAid. Oh, and a few towels. I usually set my yogurt, wrapped in towels near our living room heat vent. That keeps it at a toasty temperature and keeps the little bacteria fellows happy.

makes 1 litre

• 1 litre whole milk
• 1/3 cup instant skim milk powder
• 1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise and cut in half, seeds loosened with a sharp knife
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
• 1 sachet acidophilus, casei, bifidus yogurt culture (can be found in most health food stores) or 250 ml (1 cup) yogurt with active bacterial cultures (store bought or home made)

• special equipment: dairy thermometer, 1.5 litre (or larger) glass container with tight fitting lid, several towels.

Whisk milk and milk powder together in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla and lemon zest. Allow milk to boil briefly and then cool to to the temperature stated on your culture package (if you are using previously made yogurt to re-culture let milk cool to 80F.)

Whisk in culture and pour mixture into a sterilized glass container. wrap with towels and place in a warm, enclosed space (like inside a linen cupboard with a small heated wheat bag) or near a heat vent for 12 to 15 hours, or until yogurt is firmed up. Refrigerate to stop the process.