Irish Stew

I have been sick... for a while.  This is a soup my grandma used to make for me.  We always called it Irish stew, but it's really a very simple, five ingredient, soup.  I haven't had this dish in years. Start out with about 4-6 medium potatoes and a medium yellow onion.  Peel and chop the potatoes.  They don't need to be perfectly cubed or diced.  Grandma kept them coarsely chopped - kinda rectangular pieces.  Dice the onion fairly finely - no big chunks.

Add them all to a large pan and add water and salt.  The water should cover the ingredients with at least an inch of water.  Start with a modest amount of salt to keep things evenly seasoned.  Boil until the potatoes are fully cooked and tender.

Before serving, be sure to adjust the salt to your preference.  Grandma used to add evaporated milk when serving the soup.  But, that would turn my insides into outsides, so, I use almond milk.

She would serve it with her homemade bread.  This is the type of food I grew up eating; simple, ungarnished, unadorned, comforting food.

Fresh Courgetti Salad

I just got a Spiralizer! I love it.  Here's a light and flavourful dish using summer squash from the garden.

Start with a couple medium sized courgettes (zucchini) and run through the small spiralizer blades.  Halve, or quarter, a dozen cherry tomatoes.  Dice half of a small red onion.  Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and season with salt.  Squeeze the juice of a lemon over the mixture and toss lightly.

Garnish with fresh herbs: parsley, tarragon and basil.

Guacamole Remixed

How can you go wrong with avocado?!  This dish uses of the avocado shell to make a perfect bowl for the guac. You'll need the regular ingredients for guacamole:  avocados, onion, lemon/lime, tomatoes and seasonings.  I chose to flavour this one with garlic, onion powder and cumin.

Carefully halve avocados, taking care to keep the peel in good condition.  Dice and scoop out the flesh, adding it to a medium mixing bowl.

Add the minced tomatoes, seasonings and a squeeze of lemon.  Mix well, but don't completely smash up all the chunks.  They provide a varied mouth-feel throughout, making for a unique treat.

Arrange the chunky guacamole in the empty avocado shells and garnish with slices of tomato, green onion and lemon.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Roast Cauliflower Onion Soup

Keep warm on these chilly days with this roast cauliflower and onion soup.  I made onion rings as a crispy accent to the soup.  It's all vegan and gluten free!

First, cut apart a head of cauliflower and drizzle with olive oil.  Season with a bit of sea salt and place in a 400˚F oven until slightly browned and tender.

While the cauliflower is roasting, peel, chop and boil a potato.  When the potato is tender, drain the water and add to a blender.  Then, chop a large onion and saute in a bit of olive oil.  To prevent bitterness, don't let the onions brown.  Remove them from the heat when they're just translucent.

Add the cauliflower and onions to the blender and blitz on low.  Slowly add water until the ingredients are suspended and able to blend.  Then, ultra-puree the mixture until smooth.  Season with salt and serve hot, garnished with black sesame seeds and parsley.

I wanted something crunchy to go with the soup.  I used rings of sweet onions and battered them with blended flax meal and xanthan gum.  Then, I covered them with a breading of cornmeal and cornflour (starch), seasoned with a bit of onion powder and sea salt.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

The garden is slowing down, but there are still lots of peppers.  I roasted a few and added them to my usual hummus recipe.

The base is chickpeas, red pepper, onion and lemon juice.  Start by grilling or roasting the peppers and onions.  They're ready when the skin slides easily off the peppers.

I season my hummus with sea salt, smoky paprika, sesame seeds, sriracha, onion powder and garlic powder.

Chuck it all in a blender, or food processor, and blend until smooth.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho has the reputation of being an awkward dish.  It's not always well received - after all, it's cold soup.  The first time I tried it, I was in Paris and decided, "I'm never coming back to this place!  They can't even heat up soup properly."Thankfully I got over my Parisian aversion and I learned to actually like gazpacho!

I started with tomatoes, red onions, bell peppers, chili pepper and basil - all harvested from the garden. First, peel, half and remove the seeds from a medium cucumber.  Then coarsely dice the cucumber, tomato, onions and pepper.  Be sure to very finely mince the chili pepper - any remove the seeds unless you're really a fan of spice. Pile it all in a food processor with the basil, a bit of salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Blitz it up until it's soupy, but not a fine puree.  There should be a bit of texture.

I find it's best to serve chilled, but not ice cold.

Squash Blossom Cornbread

Squash blossoms are one of those unique treats. They're not particularly flavourful, but they're a delicacy of fragility. They last less than 12 hours, so working with them requires a fresh supply and an early morning harvest. Although they don't impart much flavour to this dish, they add a unique look.

First, I collected the blossoms from garden in the morning.  It's important to work fairly quickly since they'll wilt and become unusable.  Carefully flatten (but don't crush) them.  Mix a corn bread batter: cornmeal, almond milk, eggs, olive oil, salt and baking powder.

The trick to really great cornbread is a preheated cast iron pan.  When preheating the oven, place a cast iron skillet inside.  When the preheat cycle is over, remove the pan, add a generous glug of oil and then add the batter.  Immediately, the bread begins cooking and bubbling.  This creates a rich, thick and crispy crust.

I like to give cornbread a savoury edge by adding rings of red onion.  Finish the batter by placing the squash flowers atop the batter, drizzle or spray with olive oil, and return the skillet to the oven.

It's ready when the top is golden brown.

Confit byaldi - Variation on Ratatouille

My favourite vegan french dish: Ratatouille!  It's also one of my favourite dished because I grow all the vegetables in my garden.

First, slice the squash, zucchini and eggplant.  Then, dice and fry in olive oil; the peppers, tomatoes, shallots and onions.  Once the onions and peppers are softened, spoon the mixture in a baking dish.  I chose to use small oven-safe dishes but really any baking dish will work.

Then, layer the sliced vegetables in an overlapping, alternating pattern.  Be sure to cover the entire baking dish.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top.

Wrap, or cover, the baking dishes with parchment paper (not wax paper).  This keeps the vegetables from drying out in the oven.  Bake at 350F for about an hour.  Remove from the over, let cool and refrigerate over night.

The next day, remove the parchment and cover the top with tomato sauce.  Admittedly, I used tinned tomato paste with fresh sauteed vegetables to make the top sauce.  I had only green tomatoes and those don't make an attractive sauce.

Return the sauce covered ratatouille to the oven for ~15 minutes to reheat.  Serve while it's still hot.  It's amazing on its own, but also goes well with rice and salad.

Focaccia: baking watery bread #notgross

Focaccia is a delightful bread.  It's a little unique that it contains ~60%-70% water.

As usual I just threw things together; so bad at measuring.  After you work for years with bread it becomes second nature.  So, now's the perfect time for you to start!  In no time, you'll be making bread from scratch.

Begin by mixing flour, salt, yeast and water to form a very soft dough.  I like to let the dough ferment overnight in the refrigerator to allow it to develop complex flavours.

Scoop the dough out on a floured surface.  Here's the trick, the dough should be folded over itself rather than traditionally kneaded.  This forms the gluten, gives the bread shape and it keeps the air bubbles intact.

After folding, place the dough on a baking tray (lined with a silicon baking mat, oiled parchment, or simply oil the baking tray).  Let it raise until doubled in size and then use your fingers to make indentions on the surface.  This keeps the bread from raising too high and it gives the topping a nice home.

Then drizzle with good olive oil and top with delightful Italian flavours.  I chose red onion, olives and tomatoes.  Bake at 400F until golden brown.  It's a delight!

Laminated Potato Crisps

These are some of my favourite!  I saw Julia Child make something like this years ago and decided to give it a try.

Start by peeling and thinly slicing potatoes.  I mean really thinly sliced - so thin you can read through it.

Carefully layer one slice of of potato, an herb, a bit of oil and top with another slice of potato.  It helps to roll the herbs (basil, thyme, chives, or green onions) so they're flat and the chips don't warp in the oven.  Bake at 350F until they're golden brown.  Then remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt.  Transfer to paper towels to cool and drain any excess oil.

Bon appetit!

Spinach-Spelt pasta Ravioli with Vegan Filling

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This verdant pasta is coloured with fresh-from-the-garden spinach.

I started out by chopping the spinach and olive oil in the food processor.  Not really sure how the recipe would turn out, I added egg-white to the mixture and kneaded the dough with the food processor.  It turned out better than expected.  An eggless, vegan pasta dough should hold up perfectly. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide in to two equal portions and roll it out.

The filling's made from: pine nuts, tofu, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, salt, tamari and a squeeze of lemon. Simply add the ingredients to the food processor and blitz. Spoon it or pipe it on to the rolled pasta dough - rice flour keeps the dough from sticking to the counter. Brush water around the dollops of filling to make sealing the pasta easier.  Place the top pasta layer over the bottom.  Press out the air and cut into individual pieces.  I used a handy pasta cutter, but a knife works, too.

Drop into boiling water for ~3 minutes.  Serve hot with olive oil, pine nuts and fresh basil.

Gluten Free Stir-Fry

Often the stri-fry premix seasonings contain gluten or wheat ingredients.  Mixing the spices individually and using tamari (gluten free soy sauce), gluten can be eliminated from this delicious dish.  Deep frying tofu and marinating it overnight allows it to have a pleasant texture and full taste (which is a rare trait for tofu).

Classic flavours compose the seasoning: sesame, soy, onion, garlic, turmeric, chili and ginger.  Mixing Jasmine and black Forbidden rice yield a uniquely hued rice side-dish.

Yellow Salsa (Grilled Peach)

This summer I was inspired by friends to make salsa.  As the summer winds down, here's a perfect dish to enjoy with the lasts of the summer produce.

Select yellow salsa ingredients, yellow tomatoes, peaches, corn, yellow onions and peppers.

Coat the peaches and corn in olive oil and add some colour and char on the grill.

You don't want to cook the peaches to a mush, just sear them well.

Mince the ingredients and stir together with a bit of salt, cumin and chipotle (for that nice kick and extra smokyness).  Garnish with parsley or cilantro and serve with your favourite tortilla chips.

Bitter Melon

If you're Piony, there's one thing that cures all ailments: bitter melon!  It's kinda like a cucumber, but it has a distinct bitter base flavour. Start by sauteing diced onion and adding the sliced bitter melon.

Pour over beaten eggs and continue to cook until done through - like a frittata.  Once done, top with shiitake and tomatoes.

Pad see ew (Phat si io)

This was more experimental - I'd only had a taste at a restaurant.

Start by soaking rice flake noodles (square rice noodles).  Create a broth of fresh tomato puree, soy sauce, crushed peanuts, diced onion and a bit of water.  Bring it to a boil and drizzle in a beaten egg.  Add the rice flake and a bit of coconut oil.

Keep it stirred until it's tender - serve promptly.

It's an amazing flavour - serve with fresh tomatoes and Thai basil.

Thai Green Curry (winter)

That curry is unbelievably good.  It can range from mildly warming to a searing sweat-inducing  spice.  Served with brown jasmine rice and cashews.

For a hot moderately hot curry, start with 2 tablespoons of curry paste, a teaspoon of crushed peanuts or crunchy peanut butter and a teaspoon of salt.  Add these ingredients to a can of coconut milk and simmer.

The oil will start to separate out of the coconut milk when it's ready.

Add sliced or julienned vegetables, bamboo strips and Thai basil.Unfortunately, in the winter, basil doesn't grow.  This dish is prepared with carrots, onions, peppers, napa cabbage and fennel.

In the summer, I'll post a proper green curry.

Yellow Grits

A rich mince of grilled yellow bell pepper and onion make this roasty-flavoured dish a delight.

Green Grits

A smooth mellow puree of okra and spinach give this Southern dish a verdant hue.

Pasta Fresca

I just got to try my new pasta attachments.

Make the dough and let it rest:

This is a buckwheat and semolina dough.

Then roll it to the desired thickness:

Then cut as desired - this is a fettuccine:

Start the water boiling and lay the pasta aside - boil when ready.  Then drain, rinse and keep warm (for no more than 10 minutes):

Prepare the fresh veg:

• basil
• parsley
• onions
• cayenne
• oregano
• tomatoes

Mince the herbs and pepper:

Marinate with Italian salad dressing:

Sweat the herbs and onion in olive oil with a dash of salt.  Add toasted pine nuts to the mix:

Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes.  You don't want to cook them, just allow them to soften slightly:

Add ripe green olives (not the pickled variety) and julienned green peppers:

Pasta Fresca, served with sauteed green beans and (veggie) sausage.