Hearty Veggie Stew

I started this blog a year ago and although I have not posted as much as I would like I did post at least once a month.  So I'm getting this post in just under the wire.

Lucky me, I am writing this post from the veranda of the little house my family has rented in La Manzanillo, Mexico.   As with our last trip to Mexico, my grandmother (oma) from the Netherlands is in tow.  She flew first to Vancouver to spend some time there with us and if you remember from posts before, she loves soup.  

My kitchen has been a frenzy with holiday baking so a  hearty but simple soup for my oma's arrival seemed like the perfect meal.  I found this recipe on my favorite food nerd site, cooks illustrated.  It is a veggie soup packed with flavor that is hearty enough to stick to your ribs.

Hearty Vegetable Stew

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup fresh oregano leaves
6 minced garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
1 medium sized eggplant peeled and cut into cubes
salt
4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lb russet potatoes peeled and cubed
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 1/4 cup water
1 28oz can whole peels tomatoes
2 zucchini cubed
2 bell peppers cubed
1 cup shredded basil

Start by placing the 1/3 cup basil, oregano, garlic, oil and chili flakes in a food processor.  Blend to a fine paste and set aside.

Toss the eggplant with a teaspoon salt and place on a plate lined with paper towel.  Microwave for 8-12 minutes, tossing eggplant at half way mark.

In dutch oven heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add eggplant, onion and potatoes, and cook for about 2 minutes stirring often.

Add another tablespoon of oil and tomato paste and cook two more minutes.

Add can of tomatoes (I run a knife through the tin before to chop the tomatoes a bit) and 2 cups of water. bring to a boil and simmer for about 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil and add add zucchini, bell pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Cook about 10-12 minutes.

Add the basil paste in the middle of the pan and cook a minute before stirring it into the vegetables.  Add last 1/4 cup water to scrape up brown bits.  Add to dutch oven and sprinkle with remaining basil and serve!

Winters Arrival

A winter chill is in the air.  The days are short, it's raining more than not and I'm fashioned head to toe in home made toques, mitts and scarves made by family and friends.  With the forecast predicting steady rain for they upcoming week, Colin and I figured no sense in waiting for the sun and headed out for a wintry walk.  Even though it was overcast, we had a dry and pleasant walk around Stanley Park and we couldn't think of  a better way to end the day than cozying up at home for a meal.  Colin was quick to jump in with the request for the chicken with caramelized onions and cardamom rice from the cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.

We have yet to try a recipe from this cookbook that we didn't like but this is one of our favourites.  I think what makes it such a tasty dish is that the rice cooks with the chicken and spices and absorbs all the flavours.  The rich rice is then topped with fresh herbs which provide the perfect balance. An extra bonus that we like, seeing as we have no dishwasher, is that it is a one-pot-meal. Simple, rich and easy comfort food, perfect for a grey winters day.

Chicken with caramelized onion & cardamom rice

2 1/2 tbsp raisins*The original recipe calls for barberries soaked in three tbsp of sugar and 3 tbsp of water  
4 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions thinly sliced
5-6 skin-on, bone in chicken thighs
10 cardamom pods
1/4 tsp whole cloves
2 long cinnamon sticks broken in half
1 2/3 cup basmati rice
2 1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tbsp parsley chopped
1/2 cup fresh dill chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves chopped
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
salt and pepper


In large pan, saute onions in 2 tbsp of the olive oil until brown.  Remove from pan and wipe pan clean.

Place the chicken in a large bowl and add 1 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 1/2 tsp black pepper.  Add remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, mix to coat the chicken.

Heat pan and place chicken in skin side down.  Sear for 5 minutes on both sides and remove from pan.  If there is excess oil remove all but a little to coat the bottom of the pan.

To the pan add the rice, caramelized onions, raisins,1 tsp of salt and fresh ground pepper. Stir together and add chicken back to pan and push it into the rice.

Pour the boiling water over the rice and cook, covered for about 30 minutes on low heat.

Remove from heat and remove the lid.  Moving quickly place a tea towel over the dish and return the lid.  Let stand for 10 minutes more.

Add the fresh herbs and serve with yogurt on the side.

Fall and Pie Cravings

I love fall, by far my favourite season.  The crisp cool air, crunchy bight leaves on the ground and the start of what I consider baking season.  With an abundance of apples, pears and pumpkins I can barely contain my baking excitement.   With the cooler weather our kitchen has seen a lot more activity and while we did not have a traditional Thanksgiving meal we did get together with family. The only thing I was really missing and craving was pumpkin pie.

I tried at several times while out with friends to find it on menus but no luck and decided to satisfy my itch with a homemade pie.  Pie dough and I have not always gotten along so after some internet research I settled on crust advertised as "no-fail" and hoped for the best.  The same website had a filling with well rounded  spices.  I find recipes that use just cinnamon, while tasty, are a little lacking in depth and chose this recipe as it also used cloves, ginger, nutmeg and cardamon.  The result was a flaky crust with a rich filling and I went all the way in indulgence and topped it off with a generous dollop of whipped cream, soooo goood.

Pumpkin Pie

Crust:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup full fat sour cream

Filling:

2 eggs plus third egg yolk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425F

In a bowl combine flour, salt, and sugar.  Add cubed butter and cut into flour mixture until a course mixture with some butter chunks.

Add sour cream and mix into flour and butter mixture with fork.

Using hands form dough into ball.  (mine was little dry and I added a touch of cold water to bing it all together)

Cut dough into two and form into disks.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (I just needed one so threw the second disk in the freezer)

After 30 minutes remove dough from fridge.  On floured surface roll out to 12-14 inch diameter. (if dough has been in fridge longer than 2hrs, let it sit outside of fridge for 5 minutes before rolling.

Transfer rolled dough to pie plate and crimp edges if desired.  Place prepared crust back in fridge until filling is ready.

For the filling, beat eggs and yolk in a bowl.

Add sugars, spices, salt, and zest to eggs and stir to combine.

Add pumpkin puree.

Mix in cream.

Remove prepared crust from fridge and pour in filling.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425F and then reduce heat to 350F and bake another 45-50 minutes, an inserted knife in pie should come out clean. Cool for about two hours on wire rack (Colin could only wait an hour before caving and digging in and we enjoyed our pie still sightly warm)

Happy Fall!

Family Recipes

It's fall and I am giving into my craving for hearty soups and stews that just taste so good in the cool crisp fall season. And today I thought I'd share a family recipe.  Our family recipes have always been a little interesting. While our family's heritage is Dutch, the fact that my dad grew up in India and my mom's side had several generation live in Indonesia, many of our family recipes have South East Asian/Indian flavours.  And this weekend I was craving my grandma's mulligatawny (we just call it Mul) soup.

Out of interests sake I looked up some authentic mulligatawny recipes and my grandmothers is far from it, but that makes it all the more special.  My grandmas version is a chicken and lentil soup with a plethora of spices severed over rice with salt and lemon.   I have great memories of entering our house on a cold day and smelling the Mul on the stove.  My mom always cooks it in my grandma's old orange cast iron pot and I carry on the tradition with my own orange pot and I feel my grandma would be proud.

It's one of Colin's and my favourite soups, subtle flavours that are brought out with just the right about of salt and lemon sprinkled over it.  The salt is a crucial step to bring out the flavours, so if your bowl of soup isn't punching in you in the face with flavour add a little salt at a time to get it just right, you'll know when you there.

Here it is!

Oma's Mul

2 onions sliced
1 tbsp butter
a whole chicken
2 cups green lentils
1 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered ginger
2 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp turmeric
one onion with three whole cloves stuck into it
1 bay leaf
1 stick of cinnamon
4 cloves of garlic sliced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups or one can coconut milk
Lemon wedges and salt to pass around

Start my caramelizing the onions in the butter, set a side

Place chicken, lentils and all the spices in a large pot and add enough water to cover the chicken (mine doesn't always cover the chicken so I flip it half way during cooking).

Bring the pot to a boil and simmer for an hour or until the meat falls off the bone.

Remove the onion with cloves and discard the cloves.  Remove chicken and take meat off the bones.  Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.

Return only the onion to the soup and with a wand blender blend the soup to a smooth constancy.

Return chicken to pot.

Add the caramelized onions and coconut milk.  Bring back to temperature and serve over rice with wedges of lime and extra salt!

  

Hot Hot Heat

This past month, summer has taken over our lives.  With all the hiking, biking, swimming, kayaking, camping, exploring and a heat like no other, cooking has been at the bottom of our priority list. 

Our teeny tiny apartment gets scotching hot during the day and the thought of cooking on our gas stove drives us out of the house.

Instead, we have been gorging on fresh local fruit, lots of al fresco dinners of bread and cheese, tacos from down the street and quenching our thirst with local craft beer.

During camping adventures we cooked simple meal and spruced up things like instant noodles with heaps of chard from our garden.  

View from the house on the hill

 This last weekend, we fled the bustling city to my parent's house on the hill in the interior of BC.  On top of having fun with family and friends, a highlight for me is always cooking in my mom's kitchen.  I took full advantage this time out and made brunch for everyone on Saturday morning with recipes out of the Cooks Illustrated Breakfasts & Brunch book.  A strata with potatoes, rosemary and onions; home made breakfast sausage patties and a summer berry salad with ginger dressing.  My cooking itch completely satisfied I finally sit down to write another blog post after a  month of eating out of our car, backpacks and restaurants!  

Brunch!

Banana Bread Treat

It’s the first rainy day we've had in Vancouver in quite some time and I'm enjoying the lazy evening in with some baking.  I have been at my new job for about a week now and wanted to bring in a morning treat for our daily meeting.  Trying to think of a crowd pleasing recipe, it was a no brainer to make my friend Melanie’s banana bread. 

Melanie has the recipe posted on her own blog and has recently opened a pizza deli in Lonsdale Quay.  In her recipe she gives several suggestions on combinations of ingredients to use and the recipe below is one of several possible variations.  I think the part of this recipe that makes it so tasty is the bananas and sugar on top of the loaf, they caramelize ever so slightly for an extra sweet kick in each bite.  In an attempt to reduce my intake of refined sugar I substituted coconut sugar for the brown sugar and sprinkled just a bit if brown sugar over top of the bread and bananas.        

Banana Bread

1 tbsp soft butter

1 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3 ripe bananas mashed with a fork

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

½ raw pumpkin seed

½ cup walnut pieces

1 banana sliced into thin slabs

1 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 C

Beat the butter and coconut sugar until combined. Add the vanilla and eggs.  Mix until combined.

Add the mashed bananas.

In a separate bowl add all dry ingredients and mix.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just incorporated.

Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.  Top with sliced bananas and brown sugar.

Baking time varies anywhere from 45 minutes to over 1 hour.  Bake until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan 10-15 minutes before removing and cooling on wire rack.

Enjoy!