Lex Culinaria

Grilled Corn and BC Peach Salsa

Now that the garden's gone crazy I'm trying to use all the great stuff that keeps on growing in it. That and all the great produce I can't seem to keep myself from buying at the farmer's market and the various roadside stands dotted about the city. I managed to come up with this great fresh, tangy and slightly spicy salsa that I served with roast bison the other night and which was heavenly. We ate it more like a salad than a salsa and it was terrific. If you want a more complex, smoky taste you could grill the whole cobs of corn on the barbecue before shaving them off the cobs into the salad bowl. I cheated a bit however, as I find the kernels are easier to get off undamaged if you cut them from the cobs while raw and then cook them. So that is what I did. Try to choose nice firm peaches that have just barely gotten ripe. You want them to be sweet, but not too sweet, and slightly tangy for best effect. This recipe uses all sorts of great stuff that's in season now so it really is the epitome of fresh.

• 4 cobs of fresh corn
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 large barely ripe peaches, chopped into smallish pieces
• 3 medium fresh fleshy tomato, chopped
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh Italian parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh lemon basil, chopped
• 2 jalapenos or other similar small fresh spicy pepper, chopped
• 1 medium red onion roughly chopped
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper

Stand each peeled cob on end on a cutting board and use a small paring knife to slice the kernels from each cob. Get as close to the core as you can. Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed frying pan. Cook the corn in pan over high heat until it turns a darker shade of yellow and the kernels start to get nice and browned. Sprinkle ground cumin over corn in pan. Continue to stir and cook for a minute or so more. Remove corn from heat and set aside to cool.

Combine the cooled corn with the remaining ingredients and refrigerate, covered for 2 or 3 hours, stirring occasionally, to allow the flavours to blend. This can be made in advance and keeps well in the fridge for several days. It's a great side to barbecued (or grilled) meats.

Spicy Onion Jam

Rounding out the pickling triumvirate, we have a spicy onion jam. This jam was inevitable in our house. You see, Cakes and I developed an unnatural love for sandwiches with aged cheddar cheese and Bicks Onion Relish. I can't stand the idea Of eating commercially prepared bottled relish - I guess I have these flashbacks to when i was a kid and there would always be that gross jar of super sweet pickle relish, looking creepy, unnatural green (kind of like the green colour of those green glace cherries...) at barbecues. Also, I reckoned I could do a better job. And I think I did. This goes great as a chutney in a cheese sandwich, or makes a nice addition to a pickle and cheese tray. I bet it'd also make a fantastic barbecue glaze for chicken.

Spicy Onion Jam

• 2 huge vidalia onions chopped (about 5 cups)
• 1 + 1/4 cup golden sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 + 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 1 + 1/2 cups vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 +1/2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water

Place onions in a large saucepan and saute over medium heat for 5- 10 minutes, stirring frequently until onions begin to soften and sweat. Add remaining ingredients, except cornstarch/water mixture, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes or until flavours are well blended and onions are fairly soft, but retain some crunch. Stir through cornstarch mixture and cook a couple of minutes more. Pour into clean hot jars. Loosely apply lids and set aside to cool. When cool, tighten lids and refrigerate. Jam should keep in the fridge for 4 to 6 weeks. Makes 5 x 250ml jars.

Garlicky lemon-dill asparagus pickles

Each spring at the Strathcona farmers market, Edgar Farms sells their gorgeous locally grown asparagus. It is a fleeting thing, barely started in May, over by the end of June. Sigh. When we showed up at the market a week early for the first harvest, we had to satisfy ourselves with the asparagus pickles they also sell. Luckily, they were damn good pickles. So good (but expensive!) that I decided, in my pickle-mania (or condi-mentia, if you will) this past weekend to do something similar. And man are these good. We've been eating them straight from the jar as a snack. The recipe I've used is a fairly standard dill pickle recipe with a few extra somethings....

Garlicky lemon-dill pickled asparagus

Makes 6 litres

• 3 + 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, rinsed
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and bruised and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup very roughly chopped dill
• 1 teaspoon lemon peel (cut into tiny matchsticks)
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 + 1/2 tablespoons corriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons celery seed
• 2 teaspoons peppercorns
• 2 crumbled bay leaves
• 3 cups white vinegar
• 6 cups water
• 1/2 cup kosher or pickling salt

Snap off the woody ends of each stalk of asparagus and discard. Chop the stems into 3-4 centimetre (1.5 inch) pieces. Pack vegetables into clean jars. Divide the garlic, lemon peel and dill amongst the jars. Combine the dry spices and divide the mixture between the jars as evenly as you can.

Boil the vinegar, water and salt until the salt is dissolved. Pour boiling liquid over the vegetables until covered. Screw lids loosely onto jars and allow them to cool to room temperature before tightening the lids and refrigerating the pickles. These pickles will keep for 2 months in the fridge.

Condi-mental

I love pickles, relishes, chutneys and sauces. What I don't love is the bottled, canned, preserved taste that a lot of commercially prepared condiments have. It's funny, I'll cook or home make just about anything from cheese, to beer and wine, to bread fresh noodles and even my own soap, but I usually don't think twice about purchasing commercially prepared pickles. I've been making my own ketchup for a couple years now. This weekend, I decided to branch out a bit and have a go at pickle making.  I bought a lovely book last week called Quick Pickles, by Dan George, Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, and discovered that, unlike many of the recipes in my collection of 1900's through 1950's traditional cookery books, these pickles are easy to make and don't require an engineering degree to get through the canning process. I cook for fun, not for a mental challenge!

So Cakes and I headed off to the farmers market to get a few pounds of tiny pickling cucumbers, carrots, fresh dill, asparagus and a few more odds and ends. I really wasn't sure what I was going to be making. My plan (inasmuch as I ever have a plan) was to get something of everything and see what comes out of it! Maybe that's why our house is always full of food and I am forever saying "I really should make something with that before it goes off..." This time I made something out of everything I bought! Which is why I ended up with 2 nifty pickles and one relish-y-chutney-thingy.

I also learnt a handy fact about the science of making pickles: Salt will help make your pickles crunchy. I would have assumed the opposite. Given that salt extracts water from cucumbers (and other vegetables), I would have thought that salt would make pickles limp. But it doesn't. Give it a try. The pickle recipe below is a great way to test the theory. These pickles are fresh and crisp tasting owing to the minimal processing which involves very little heat. They will keep in the fridge for about a month. But I bet they'll be gone before then...

Black Eddy House Pickles (from Quick Pickles by Dan George) - I've made a few adaptations....

Makes 6 litres

• 1 kg (2 pounds) small cucumbers (no longer than 15 centimetres or 5 inches)
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt
• 7 cloves garlic, peeled and bruised, but still whole
• 1/2 kilogram carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2 centimetre coins
• 1 red capsicum (bell pepper) chopped into 2 centimetre (1 inch) chunks
• 1 yellow capsicum (bell pepper) chopped into 2 centimetre (1 inch) chunks
• 1 large vidalia onion, sliced (about 2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 tablespoon brown mustard seed
• 2 teaspoons coriander seed
• 2 tablespoons prepared hot mustard
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
• 5 cloves
• 2 bay leaves, roughly crumbled
• 3 cups cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup golden sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar

Pre-chill your cucumbers for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.Trim ends of cucumber and slice each into thick coins (about 1/2 - 1 cm thick). In a glass bowl, combine cucumbers and salt. Mix them thoroughly with your hands. Refrigerate cucumbers and salt for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a large (8 litre/quart) stainless steel saucepan, cook the carrots, onions and capsicum at medium heat with the lid on, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to sweat and soften very slightly - about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large Teflon or stainless steel stir-fry or frying pan, saute mustard seeds, coriander seeds and fennel seeds over medium high heat just until you hear the seeds begin to pop. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the remaining ingredients. Simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

When the cucumbers are finished chilling, drain and rinse them twice under cold running water. Add the cucumbers to the vegetables in the large saucepan. Bring the vinegar mixture to a boil. Pack three large, clean sealers with the vegetables. Pour over the boiling vinegar and screw the lids on loosely. Set the jars aside to cool. Once cool, tighten the lids and refrigerate.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't. And these pickles make a great addition to a pre-dinner bread and cheese plate.

Check out Lex Culinaria later this week for the remaining pickle recipes:

Garlicky lemon-dill asparagus

Spicy onion relish

The Summer Barbque Challenge Round-up

We all know what a huge proponent I am of the importance of sharing great meals with friends and family. The sort of meal I enjoy sharing most often happens out of doors, on a sunny weekend afternoon and doesn’t generally involve heating up the kitchen or folding napkins into perfect thirds.

Though I’ve had both near and total disasters in the kitchen preparing for regular dinner parties, I’ve never had the experience with a BBQ. There’s something magical about the ease and joviality that go hand in hand with the BBQ. No one’s worrying about the right fork and it’s totally acceptable to be so enamoured of what you’re eating that you end up with sauce on your chin. I guess that’s why I love barbeques so much… they really are the essence of what a shared meal should be -  enjoyment of great food, and lively company (especially when there’s good beer and wine!) - without the fussiness and formality that sometimes comes packaged up with more formal meals.

My most vivid childhood memories of eating a complete meal (as opposed to a particular food item or the preparation of food) are of summer suppers eaten outside with my parents and sister on the patio of the house I grew up in. We had a patio table with an umbrella that had a very hip (for the late 70s) brown and blue stripe on it. That was at the time long before patio furniture became plastic. Our table was a shiny powder-coated white metal. The meals were never really fancy – salad from the garden, baked potatoes – maybe done in foil with sliced onions, butter and a touch of honey – and steaks from the barbeque. I loved those meals. Heat would kick me under the table, or torture me by obliquely revealing to my parents some secret I’d confided earlier and which I was mortified to hear her repeat. After supper, we’d get Popsicles from the freezer. Those meals were lively and happy and exciting in a way that meals eaten inside never quite were.

Maybe it’s because the winters here can seem so long, but I really feel like I have in the past been much more adventurous with my indoor cookery than the outdoor variety. I felt stuck in a BBQ rut really, serving the same old standbys time after time. I swore to myself that this year would be different – I’d cook outside more, and I’d cook better and more adventurous things. So I issued the Summer Barbeque Challenge. I thought it would be a great resource to have a little online cache of great outdoor recipes to inspire our shared backyard meals all summer. So here we are…

The Summer BBQ Challenge has certainly turned out to be an international event with recipes from all corners of the globe all of which are amazing alternatives to the same-old-same-old that happens all too often around my own barbeque. After some initial confusion over what in fact I meant by “barbeque” the entries rolled in. 

Stephanie, my favourite Happy Sorceress brings us a tasty looking Lamb & Persian Rice Kibbeh and in doing so has unwittingly created for the barbeque one of my favourite Middle Eastern Dishes. Funny, without her, I’d never have thought of doing kibbeh on the barbeque. Thanks Stephanie!

McAuliflower of Brownie Points brought a tasty treat for vegetarians and meat lovers alike! Her Teriayki Grilled Tempeh that looks amazing. She did hers in a grill pan, but I reckon it’s going to get a workout on my wood fire pit grill this summer. This is one recipe that's stood the test of time...McAuliflower's brought this with her from her college days!

Helen of Beyond Salmon brought us two fantastic entries. First she provided great instructions on how to properly grill fish. I for one, have never really attempted to grill fish before because I was always worried about temperature control and the possibility of the fish sticking to the grill or breaking up and disappearing into the flames! With Helen’s great step-by-step instructions, I think I can finally conquer my fear.

Helen also made a great salad, with grilled ingredients. I don’t have much to say about Helen’s Grilled Asparagus, Tomato and Feta Salad, because I’m too busy drooling. I love grilled asparagus. I love tomatoes. I love feta. Yum.

Sandra of Un Tocco Di Zenzaro gave us the only non-English entry. Sandra, who lives in Turin, Italy made some chicken skewers that sound wonderfully yummy, no matter what the language! Her chicken skewers recipe – done both in Spanish and in Italian, would make a great addition to any summer barbeque.

Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once is from my very favourite city in the whole wide, wide world: Melbourne. When we lived in Melbourne, Cakes and I would barbeque our supper at least 5 nights out of 7 over the summer. I can remember some Saturdays when we’d barbeque both our lunch and our supper!  Getting away from the focus on the meat is Haalo’s potato skewers recipe, which is a fab alternative to plain potatoes in foil. I could practically smell the garlic and roast potato smell looking at that photo!

Kat of Kat on Thyme made an extremely adventurous Triple Sec and Vanilla Brined Pork Tenderloin with a Rhubarb Fruit Compote spanning two posts. This is definitely on my to-try list as I’ve become a great fan of brining meat ever since reading Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking. Plus, I’ve got some nice fresh rhubarb sitting on the counter……

Zorra of 1 x umruehren bitte also stepped away from the meats! The one Barbeque meal food that I almost always end up buying is the bread. That will probably change now that I’ve seen how soft and yummy looking Zorra’s home made pita bread looks. I can just imagine wrapping up a nice hot browned bit of lamb or sausage straight off the grill in one of those pitas.

Gabriella True of My Life as a Reluctant Housewife brings us the only desert entry with her amazing-looking grilled pineapple with caramel sauce. Yum. I really would like to experiment more with grilled sweet foods and this looks like a great place to start!

Craig’s & Lois Notes from the Cape sent in a fantastic recipe for melted camembert on a baguette. I can’t even bear to look at the picture because I am afraid the drool might short out my keyboard and then where would we be? No roundup. I think I’d probably be tempted to also grill the baguette too, but that’s just me and my new barbeque motto - no food should be left ungrilled! Seriously. Melted cheese? Too good.

Everyone need as good Barbeque sauce recipe or two in their repertoire. I’m glad I can add Dave’s world famous BBQ basting sauce from Robert at White Trash BBQ to mine. I find the selection of sauces at the store most perplexing. I get tired just contemplating reading the labels on 200 different sauce bottles to find one that I like. I’d much rather just make my own. I’m gonna put this one together with Helen’s fish-grilling instructions…

Intrepid Torontonian Ruth, of Once Upon a Feast, came up with a whole barbeque meal menu including grilled asparagus, cedar plank salmon, quinoa tabouleh, chickpea & couscous salad and blueberry mint granita. Wow. Now I have one whole barbeque party planned out and I’m not even tired! Those granitas sound great, and I’ve always wanted to do cedar planked salmon……

Kevin of Seriously Good is clearly making this his sausage year as well. In that vein he made us some super tasty looking Romanian sausage called Mititei, which I imagine is Romanian for “seriously good-looking sausages”. They’re user friendly too. You don’t need a sausage stuffer for these babies, as they are skinless.

My favourite Edmonton author/shopping enthusiast and all-round blog-girl, Jena of Naked Bootleg, added to the international flavour of the challenge by producing Korean barbequed chicken and beef with loads of garlic. She complements this with home made Sunomono, which is an absolute favourite of mine – I’ve never even though about making it myself before, but now that Jena’s brought this recipe to my attention, you can bet I will!

Blogless Erica sent us two really tasty entries from her online cookbook (why don’t I have one of these?). Her Sweet & Sour Broccoli Coleslaw looks like a great twist on an old barbeque favourite and the amazing sounding  Wheatberry & Roasted Beet Salad is right up my alley – I love roasted beets in a salad!

My favourite Southerner, William of Never Trust a Skinny Chef, throws it back in Rachel Ray’s face with a five-hour smoked chicken chilli. Could Rachel even stand to do a dish that took more than 30 mintues? We’re guessing not. After all, she’s probably too skinny to stand and cook for that long. She'd probably feel all faint and have to lie down. William smoked his own chicken folks. That’s dedication.

Robert from Al Forno wades into the backyard cooking fray with a great post on the history of barbeque sauces and the regional sauces of the American barbeque belt.  He serves up a great recipe for an old fashioned all-American barbeque technique that sounds amazing and which will certainly find a place in my repertoire.

And lastly, my own entry… Grilled Char Sui Beef Bundles

Fitzroy will be making his selection of the winner of the Summer BBQ Challenge later in the week when his mum manages to buy a new printer cartridge! Also, he's feeling a little out of sorts owing to the fact that he recently ate a bee. This necessitated a terrifying trip to the vet (actually, probably more terrifying for me and Cakes than for poor old Fitzy). I'd like to make sure he's in top form before setting him to such a difficult task!

Smokey Barbeque Beans

I've always wanted to make my own baked beans. Ever since I was a kid and my mom brought home a copy of the "Cowboy's Cookbook" from her school library. It was written by a guy who went around interviewing little old men who used to be the chuckwagon cooks on the cattle drives in the wild west. That book, with its ugly yellow 1970's cover, did a great job of conjuring up images of smokey late-night campfires and pots of boiling coffee and beans. Here I am some 20 years later, finally making my own baked beans.

And just in time for the Summer Barbeque Challenge too. Lucky me.

These beans have a deep smokey sweet flavour that can only come with long (bloody long if you ask me!) cooking. They need a solid day to make. Don't worry about the beans going mushy, haricot beans simply don't do that very easily. After even 8 hours of solid simmering they are still perfectly shaped and a little al dente. If you really like your beans mushy, be prepared to cook them longer, or use smaller white beans such as great northern beans.

These were so yummy, this huge batch disappeared in a matter of minutes.

Lex's Smokey BBQ Beans

(serves a lot! close to 10 or 12 as a generous side dish)

• 700 grams (1.5 pounds) dried white haricot beans
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 small red capsicum (bell pepper), chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 x 796 ml (28 oz) can diced stewed tomatoes
• 1 x 156ml (5.5 oz) tin tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 200 ml dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried hot chilli flakes
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons hot English mustard
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 450-500 grams smoked duck or goose wings (I used goose)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups beef stock

Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cool water. Drain and rinse.

Chuck it all in a big ole pot (at least 8 litres/quarts!), bring it to the boil and let it simmer for 7 to 9 hours. Check on it periodically. If it looks like the liquid is getting thick, add an extra few cups of water. You'll probably have to do this a few times during the cooking process.

Towards the end, use tongs to fish out the smoked bird pieces. Strip the meat off the bones, dice the meat quite small and throw it back in the pot.

Do the Mashed Potato

"What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow." A. A. Milne (1882-1956)

Ask a roomful of cooks how to make perfect mashed potatoes and the answers are all over the map. It seems everyone’s got their favourite one or two methods for this ubiquitous side dish. Having grown up on the Canadian Prairies in a mixed German and Ukrainian household, I can’t honestly think of another side dish that has graced my table more frequently. I imagine a warm bowl of mash got plenty of our early settler forebears through a bitter Prairie winter in a drafty sod house.

To be fair to the humble mashed potato, its allure must be stronger than just a biological need for sustenance. Even though we now live in big glass towers and have more money than ever with which to house and feed ourselves, mash still appears everywhere. It’s tasty and hearty and pretty darn easy to whip up. It’s dead easy to tart up by adding a few exotic-sounding ingredients.

Scientifically speaking, (inasmuch as my lifelong study of mashed potatoes can really be said to be scientific) there are really only 4 variables in the mashed potato equation: Potato, Fixin's, Method and Equipment. And everybody’s got an opinion on their correct combination.

The Humble Potato
There are definitely varieties of potatoes that work better for mashing and those that work best for baking or boiling. The selection within the "good for mashing" group is pretty impressive: Yukon Gold, Blue, Russet, Bintje, Sebago, Idaho White, Kennebec, plus heaps more are claimed by all and sundry to be good mashers. My personal favourites are Yukon Gold and All Blues. More on that later.

Fixins
"Fixins" is the variable that probably bears the most responsibility for the evolution of mash over the years, from a simple farmhouse staple, to something just as at home in a fancy-pants restaurant, as say, crispy fried leek stacks. It's also the place to have the most fun! You can produce a classic and always tasty mash just using a little butter, milk and salt and pepper, or you can go a little farther out with buttermilk or sour cream and garlic, or parsley and cream cheese. Go wayyyyy out an add brie or fontina instead of cream and butter. Get low fat by using chicken broth in place of milk and butter. Go a little Mardi Gras by adding New Orleans Olive Salad! Some people add raw eggs or mustard. The sky really is the limit.

Method to the Madness?
Do you leave the skins on or do you peel your spuds? Do you microwave or boil or bake? All these are options. Personally, I’m a boiler but not a peeler, especially if the potatoes are new with lovely thin skins. If I’m in a hurry, I’ve even been know to use the microwave. But more likely, I’ll just cube the potatoes quite small so they boil faster.

I’ve heard tell of all sorts of mashed potato method madness out there. Some of the “secret to the best mashed potatoes” claims I’ve come across are:

• adding cold milk will “seize” your potaoes. For fluffier potatoes add warm milk;
• the secret to light and fluffy mashed potatoes is to let the steam escape for 15 minutes after the potatoes are cooked and before mashing them;
• whip Yukon Golds in a Kitchenaid with a whisk attachment and put it on 6-8 for 10-15 minutes.

Equipment
Some people swear by a ricer. My mother used to use electric beaters. I swear by my good old-fashioned coil masher – the $26 fancy-pants one with the little holes in an oval of stainless steel doesn’t work worth a crap. The key is, whatever the implement you use, mash swiftly and under no circumstances over-mash. A few too many passes with the masher and your beautiful potatoes will end up gluey and sticky and gross instead of fluffy. Very breifly, this is because potatoes are made up of little sacs of starch - if you break the little sacs then the starch leaks out and gets all sticky and sugary. That’s why I tend to eschew my mother’s electric beaters – too great a risk of over mashing, although she always seemed to get it right.

Potato cook off!

Most people I know have been to a wine tasting. I’ve known a few who have been to a cheese or chocolate tasting. Well, Cakes and I had our own little mashed potato tasting party this afternoon. I made several pots of mash using three varieties of potato and simply seasoning with a dab of butter, a bit of milk and some salt and pepper. This allowed us to properly compare the various kinds of potato without the complication of crazy and distracting “Fixins”.

The results?

Yukon Gold: This mash feels creamy and is very fine grained. It's got a delicate potato flavour with a hint of sweetness. I bet they'd make a great buttermilk or sour cream mash. Definitely the fluffiest and lightest of the three, both in terms of texture and taste. I think these would be best as a side for a great grilled steak - where the meat is so filling you're not looking for a solid mash, but more of a creamy and light accompaniement.

Banana (fingerling): Touted by the potato lady at Strathcona Farmers Market as a great masher. The texture was firmer and not as creamy as the Yukon Golds (althtough this could be remedied to a degree by adding a bit more milk than you would normally). Definitely a "meaty" taste and texture. Very solid and filling, but not gluey at all. The taste was not sweet like the Yukon Golds - more potatoey tasting. They'd make a better accompaniment to a lighter main - maybe roast chicken or grilled fish. Their meaty texture leads me to believe that they'd make stellar potato pancakes the next day!

All Blues: Almost as fluffy as the Yukon Golds, but not so sweet. Of the three, this one had the most pronounced earthy potato flavour, which was really nice. Light on texture, but more flavourful than the other two. A really great taste, but I'm sure some folks might be a bit ooked out by the colour. This mash would do well as an all around side for any dish, but I bet it'd be stellar with lamb. Its stronger potato flavour would do a better job of standing up to the strongly flavoured lamb.

The recipe test

I made several small batches of  different mashed potato recipes for the purposes of comparison.

Parmesan, Garlic and Green Onion: I added about 1/2 cup good grated reggiano, 1/4 cup sliced green onion and 2 clovesd mashed garlic to a 2 cups of mash - this worked really well with the Fingerlings. Was just the thing for settin' beside a grilled chicken breast.

Green Olive and Hot Pepper: I added a 1/2 cup finely chopped green olive and a tiny teaspoon of minced hot red (thai) pepper to 2 cups of mashed Yukon Golds (along wqith butter, salt, pepper and milk). It was amazing with some rich smoked turkey breast. Would be out of this world with a nice grilled rare steak.

Blue Cheese and Parsley: I added 1/4 cup crumbled bleu de bresse and 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsely to 2 cups mashed All Blues (along with butter, salt, pepper and sour cream)- amazing!

Wondering what to do with all that leftover mash? Click here to find out

Wondering who got the bright idea to eat that first potato? Click here to find out

You think that putting a raw egg in your mash is a bit crazy? Check out this weird potato lore:

• Laying a potato peel at the door of a girl on May Day showed her that you disliked her.
• If a woman is expecting a baby, she should not eat potatoes because the baby will be born with a big head.
• A potato in your pocket will cure rheumatism and eczema.
• If you have a wart, rub it with a cut potato, then bury the potato in the ground. As the potato rots in the ground, your wart will disappear.
• Treat facial blemishes by washing you face daily with cool potato juice.
• Treat frostbite or sunburn by applying raw grated potato or potato juice to the affected area.
• Help a toothache by carrying a potato in your pocket.
• Ease a sore throat by putting a slice of baked potato in a stocking and tying it around your throat.
• Ease aches and pains by rubbing the affected area with the water potatoes have been boiled in.

Paper Chef 14: Roasted baby beet, labanya and quinoa salad

Yay Paper Chef! You've done it once again. You've caused me to step outside my comfort zone and try something new, which (I am very happy to say) was a resounding success. Quinoa will henceforth be a new staple in our house.

For those of you who have no idea what Paper Chef is all about, let me explain very briefly. Owen Linderholm, of Tomatilla, thought it would be a great idea to do a blog-based version of (sort of) Iron Chef.  Once a month, on a Friday, Owen draws four random ingredients out of his magic chef's hat. The food blogging community then has until noon on Monday to come up with their own interpretation of the ingredients. Sometimes the ingredients are pretty easy to make into something. Other times they are a bit more challenging. What never fails to amaze me though, is the very different concoctions Paper Chef participants come up with. You'll never see the same thing twice, and you'll certainly see a whole lot of things that astound you. You'll also likely think, "why didn't I think of that?"

The thing I like most about Paper chef is that it makes me try new ingredients, or new ways of thinking about familiar ingredients, that I wouldn't otherwise try. I think the once monthly kick in the pants to trey something new makes me a better cook.

This month Paper Chef is being hosted by Belly Timber, so get on over there and check out the roundup of entries!

Now, the quandary. What to do with this months 4 ingredients? Quinoa, yogurt, cashews and "baby" (as in small not gerbers) food?

Before I tell you what I did, a word about Labanya. For those of you that have been reading Lex Culinaria since the beginning will now that labanya's nothing new in our house. It's a Middle Eastern soft cheese made from hung yogurt. Depending on the yogurt you use, it can be very mild and tastes like a cross between goats cheese (with a slight acid note) and cream cheese. It has a texture very similar to soft cream cheese. In our house we spread it on toasted bagels instead of cream cheese.

Okay. That said, this is where I ended up after pacing my kitchen deep in thought:

Roasted baby beet, Labanya and quinoa salad - serves 4

• 600 gm whole baby beets (about 6-8)

• 1 L full fat Greek style yogurt
• salt, pepper

• 2/3 c quinoa
• 1 Litre water
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup cashews, toasted and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped
• salt, pepper

• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 olive oil
• 1 egg yolk
• salt, pepper

• 3 cups baby salad greens

For the Labanya: Line a 2 litre mixing bowl with cheesecloth. Empty the whole 1 Litre of yogurt into the middle of the cheesecloth. Gather up the ends and sides of the cloth and twist until cloth is just taut over yogurt. Tie yogurt filled cloth so that it is suspended over your counter (I tie mine to the knob of the upper cupboard). Place the 2 litre bowl underneath to catch drips. Leave yogurt suspended overnight, up to 15 hours. After 12-15 hours, the yogurt should be reduced in volume by at least half. Untie bag and place stiff ball of cheese into a small mixing bowl. Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

This is what your labanya should look like when you unwrap it!

To roast the beets: Wrap beets in foil. Roast in a 425F oven for one hour. Allow to cool until you can handle them easily. Unwrap the beets and use your fingers to rub the skins off. Do this under cool running water, or you'll never get the pink out of your skin! Pat beets dry with paper towel. Slice beets very thinly. Set aside.

To cook the quinoa: rinse 2/3 cup of quinoa under cold running water in a fine mesh sieve. Place in small saucepan with a pinch or two of salt and 1 litre of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain cooked quinoa in sieve. Saute minced garlic cloves in butter over medium heat, when garlic is golden, add cooked, drained quinoa. Cook and stir for 3 minutes to evaporate any excess water from the quinoa. remove from heat, add salt and pepper, chopped parsley and all but 1 Tablespoon of the cashew nuts. Gently stir through 1 heaping tablespoon of labanya. Set aside.

To make the dressing: combine lemon juice, garlic, oil and egg in a small, tall sided container. Whip with an immersion blender until well blended and slightly frothy. Season with salt and pepper. If you don't have an immersion blended with a whip attachment, you could blend it on high in a jug-style blender.

To assemble: grease the inside of a biscuit cutter, or large round cookie cutter. Place greased cutter on plate. Layer several slices of beet inside cutter on plate, making sure the beet slices overlap so that the bottom of the circle is completely covered. dollop 1/4 cup of the labanya on top of the beet layer. Use the wetted back of a tablespoon to smooth the labanya layer out evenly to the edges of the ring. Fill the ring loosely to the top with the quinoa mixture. Press down gently on the quinoa with the back of a wetted spoon to compress. Cover the quinoa layer with another layer of overlapping beets. Press down to compress.

While pressing gently on the top layer of beets, gently slide the biscuit ring up and off. Scatter some baby greens over the top of the salad stack and sprinkle with a pinch of the reserved cashews. Drizzle dressing over.

I know there's a lot of prep work involved here, but it's not really labour intensive prep work at all. It's just waiting time. You could easily roast the beets, prepare the quinoa mixture and dressing while your yogurt is hanging. If you did this all the day before, you could assemble all four salads in 10 or 15 minutes.

This dish covers the entire taste and texture range and does it beautifully. The sweet and earthy beets, tangy garlicky dressing, springy quinoa and creamy labanya - Cakes kept asking if he could have another. This is definitely a keeper. Now if only I could figure out how to stop the beet juice from bleeding into the labanya!

I told Y'all, but would you listen?

Last night I cracked open the January edition of Bon Appetit magazine and flipped to the "10 best dishes of the year" section (starts on page 76) and felt vindicated. All year long, I've been extolling the virtues of grits. While my posts about cookies and chocolate always draw plenty of comments, the posts about grits just sort of languished there, commented upon by only a few die hard grits fans (obviously discriminating and excellent people).

I imagine, however, that most of Lex Culinaria's other visitors just skipped past the unfamiliar stuff, which is fair enough. But now, vindication comes in the form of a grits and cheese souffle courtesy of Bon Appetit. Ironic that just as grits are being touted (by someone other than me) as a great food, I am now down to the last dregs of my super fine grits with no reliable way to obtain more. Sigh.

As always, I have modified the recipe to my own taste, and the contents of my fridge. This would make a great lunch or brunch dish served with a green salad. A nice break from the more traditional quiche. The Bon Appetit recipe called for instant grits whereas I prefer to use "quick grits", which are just as fine, but less processed and more flavourful.

For four individual souffles you will need:

• 2 cups milk
• 3 cloves garlic, well bruised, but not minced
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
• 2/3 cup quick (not instant) grits
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 eggs, separated

Preheat the oven to 375F

Simmer the milk and garlic and thyme together for 10-15 minutes. I just put mine in a 5 litre pyrex casserole in the microwave and zapped it for a few minutes until it started to bubble, let it sit for several minutes and then zapped it again and let it sit for a few more minutes. 

Fish out the garlic and thyme and stir in the salt, pepper, grits and cheese. replace lid on casserole (if using the microwave, or on the saucepan (if using the stove) and cook the grits for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft. Remove the grits from the heat source and allow to cool slightly. I transferred mine to a metal bowl and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Whip egg whites until firm, but not dry, peaks form.

Stir egg yolks through the grits until throroughly combined. Fold the egg whites into the grits.

Spray 4 individual (400ml) souffle dishes (I use these) with oil and divide batter evenly between the dishes, filling as close to the top as you can. Place filled dishes in a roasting pan and add enough water into the pan to come half way up the sides of the souffle dishes.

Bake souffles until tops are puffed and brown and centres are set, about 30 minutes.

Either serve them in their dishes, or allow to cool for 5 minutes, run a knife around the egde of the dish, and invert onto a plate, turning them gently right side up. If you serve them this way, they will fall a little, but they are still lovely.

Clearly, Lex Culinaria is on the cutting edge of culinary innovation. ;-) Not only did grits make Bon Appetit's list of the years best foods, but braised short ribs did too! I think in 2006, I'll try to balze a new culinary trail with the Cheese in a Can my sister gave me for Christmas.

Family Style Platter Meal (plus the best freaking roast potatoes on earth!)

I'm a big fan of sharing a good meal and a nice bottle of wine with friends on a Saturday or Sunday night. When I've had all day to futz around in the kitchen making good smells and filling the house with steam (and sometimes smoke!). When no one has to be at work the next day and you can sit around chatting into the night, bellies full.

For this reason I love fondues and tapas. This time, I decided to try a different kind of shared meal - the family platter. You just plonk down a huge platter on which is displayed the entire meal: meat and potatoes and vegetables. Everyone takes from the same platter in the middle of the table. In the way that everyone dips into the same fondue pot brimming with melted cheese. There's certainly something about sharing from a communal vessel that makes a dinner seem more friendly and intimate - the perfect way to share a meal with family or treasured friends.

This weekend's menu included:

• Apple and ginger ham
• Savoy cabbage and peas in a mustard cream sauce

AND....

The Best Freaking Roast Potatoes on Earth!  (serves 4)

• 6 large russet potatoes (I will take no blame whatsoever if you use a different kind of potato)
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup canola oil
• salt & pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes into largish chunks, roughly 3 pieces per potato. Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are cooked through and begin to get quite floury on the outside. I did mine in the microwave (in a plastic container with water to cover) and it took 12 minutes. Drain out the water and put the potatoes back into the container, drizzle with canola oil (use more oil rather than less, as the extra will melt off during cooking) and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Use a slotted spoon (or your hands, if you've done the potatoes ahead of time and they are not too hot) to toss the potatoes around in the oil. The outsides of the potatoes should break up a fair bit - this is exactly what you want. The floury outside of the potatoes will combine with the seasoned oil to make a gorgeous coating that gets unbelievably crispy when baked! When they are adequately coated, transfer them to a foil-lined baking sheet. Place them on the lowest oven rack in a 400F oven for 15 minutes, then transfer them to the top rack and broil them, turning with tongs where necessary, for a further 15 minutes, until their outsides are golden and crispy.

These potatoes are the perfect mix of crispy outside and soft, floury, creamy inside. Sigh.

If you've got leftovers, which you won't, you can re-crisp them with 15 minutes under the broiler.