Revitalizing Ginger and Chicken Soup

This has been a long and cold winter in Toronto, and a bit of a shock, because for the past few years, winter has been relatively mild.  There also seems to have been more colds and flues than usual this winter and so far, I have avoided them all. I have been relying on variations of this ginger chicken broth as a solution to the winter, adding different ingredients, depending on what is available.  Sometimes just greens, and maybe some chicken or not, other times frozen shrimp, mushrooms and greens. After a bowl of soup with this ginger broth as a base, I feel better almost instantly.

Because the broth takes time to make, and I never know when a I am going to need a pick-me-up, I like to keep single portioned containers of frozen broth in the freezer for emergencies. 

This past weekend I had guests in the country and dressed this basic soup up with chinese greens, poached eggs, and enoki mushrooms.  I served it with some of my red river bread for lunch.  

Revitalizing Ginger Broth with Greens, Chicken and Eggs

Ginger Chicken Broth

1 hand of fresh ginger,
2 sticks of lemon grass
1 large onion
1 head of garlic
1 stalk of celery, cut into a few large pieces
1 tablespoon of pepper corns
4 organic chicken backs, 
salt to taste

Additions to Broth

fresh green chinese vegetables, such as yu choy or bok choy and snow peas
chunks of pre cooked chicken
fresh eggs
fresh cilantro
hot peppers depending on your heat tolerance
cherry tomatoes
enoki mushrooms 
Sobo noodles

Wash the ginger and cut into about 1/8 inch slices.  There should be at least a half cup of ginger slices.  Slice the onion and smash the garlic cloves.  Cut lemon grass sticks lengthwise and smash.  Place all of these aromatics into a large pot, add the pepper corns and the chicken backs.  Cover with at least 4 quarts of water.  Bring to boil and then reduce heat to allow broth to simmer for a half hour.  Remove chicken bones, and take any chicken off of the bones, and set aside. Place bones back in broth and continue simmering for another couple of hours.  The liquid should have reduced by about half. Salt to taste.

Strain broth and discard bones, ginger, etc. 

Prepare sobo noodles. Rinse in cold water. 

Cut chinese greens into bite size pieces. coarsely chop cilantro, and finely chop hot peppers.  

Heat 1 cup of broth per person and poach eggs in the broth.

Place some noodles in the bottom of a large soup bowl.   Arrange some of the chicken pieces, a hand full of chinese greens and the mushrooms on top of the noodles.  Carefully place the poached egg on top.  Ladle the very hot broth used for poaching the eggs over the ingredients in the bowl.  Place cilantro, a few cherry tomatoes and chopped peppers to taste on top.  Let stand for a minute or two until the greens become a vibrant green and serve.  









  

Thanksgiving Roasted Capon

The first year that Claire was away for Thanksgiving, I was a bit lost, until I made Thanksgiving dinner for some of my friends who's children were also away.  This has become a ritual, and this year, with Claire home for Thanksgiving for the first time in a few years, I continued with the tradition.  Claire asked for a traditional turkey dinner including, stuffing, fall vegetables, cranberries, apple pie and pumpkin pie made from from a pumpkin  she picked from the garden. I compromised andI bought a large free range capon from the 100Mile Store, since I have never been a fan of turkey.

Last year, Claire made a turkey with friends for American Thanksgiving that she raved about, and so we applied what she remembered to this oversized capon. Bacon and apricots in the stuffing, but more interestingly, the stuffing squeezed between the skin and the breast, rather than in the bird cavity.  We had extra bacon and so wrapped the capon with a blanket of bacon.  The combination of the bacon clad bird with the stuffing under the skin resulted in a delicious and very moist capon.

Claire's Roasted Capon and Roasted vegetables as it came out of the oven

In addition, because one of our friends is celiac, we used gluten free bread for the stuffing, and potato flour for the gravy. A fabulous feast for all. 

9 to 11 pounds free range capon
1/2 pound of thinly sliced bacon
1 large organic orange
a selection of root vegetables including carrots, potatoes and onions
juice and zest from one orange

stuffing

2 shallots,
3 cloves of garlic
6 dried apricots
4 slices of bacon
2 tablespoons bacon fat
1 tablespoons of olive oil
juice of one orange,
zest from one orange
salt and pepper
a sprig of thyme
4 slices of gluten free whole wheat bread

stock/gravy

organs and neck from capon
onion
carrot
bay leaf
sprig of thyme
sprig of sage
4 cups of water

2 tablespoons of potato flour

Preheat ovem to 450F

Cut bacon into 1" pieces and cook until crisp in the frying pan.  Set cooked bacon aside and sauté finely chopped shallots and garlic in bacon fat.  Add olive oil if more fat is required.  Finely chop apricots, and crumble bread.  Mix all ingredients together in large bowl, and season with salt and pepper, and fresh thyme.   

Carefully lift skin at breast and stuff in as much stuffing as possible on both sides of the bird making sure that the bird remains symmetrical.  Take orange and puncture with a fork, and insert into the empty chest cavity of bird.  Cover breast of capon with strips of bacon, making a tight blanket for the bird. 

Place capon in roasting pan and surround with root vegetables.  

Place in oven and reduce heat to 350F.  Cook for 15 to 20 minutes per pound.  If the bird is particularly large, you may need to protect legs and wings  and vegetables with foil during the final half of the cooking time.  Remove from oven when done, and the juices run clear.   

While bird is cooking, make stock with neck and organs of bird. 

Remove vegetables and bird from pan. Tent bird with foil and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.  Place vegetables in bowl and stir in orange zest and juice. 

Separate fat from juices in bottom of roasting pan and return juices to roasting pan.   On Stove top, add 2 cups of stock  and or white wine and deglaze roasting pan.   Slowley mix about a 1/ cup of stock into the potato flour.  Wisk potato flour mixture into degalzing liquid in bottom of roasting pan and bring to boil. Cook until gravy thickens.  Season with salt and pepper.  

Fire Roasted Red Peppers Preserved

Roasting the peppers

Every fall, baskets of peppers appear at all of the Italian markets in town.  I first began roasting peppers with my friend Cathy on the roof of a building on Queen Street in the eighties.  Cathy had been introduced to roasting peppers by a friend from one of those Mediterranean countries that have such great food traditions, and suggested we try preserving roasted peppers.  The first year we made our best guess, and by the second year we had the process down, and began including our friend Sean in what became an fall ritual for a number of years.

I had an old Weber barbecue that we would load up with charcoal and then spend the evening roasting peppers and drinking wine.  At the end of a long night we would have a counter full of bottles of red peppers that we would split up and use for the winter.

Fire Roasted Peppers in Olive Oil

I now make the peppers in the country over coals from an open fire.

1 case of red peppers
1 litre of olive oil
6 organic lemons
24 - 250 mm preserving bottles
lots of old newspaper

Build a fire a couple of hours before you are ready to start.  Build a deep bed of coals.  Keep at least one log on the edge of the fire so that there is a constant source of new coals to complete the job.

Place grill close to the coals. Arrange peppers on the grill, making sure that there is room around each pepper.  Allow the skins to become black and then rotate the peppers, so that all sides of the pepper are black.

Remove peppers from the grill, and wrap groups of 4 to 6 pepper in newspaper to allow to sweat.

Meanwhile, sterilize bottles.

Wash lemons and cut into sections.  Place one section in each of the sterilized bottles.

Peel the blackened skin off the peppers and remove the core and seeds.  Discard skins and seeds.  Tear peppers into strips and pack into the sterilized bottles to about a half inch from the top.

Fill bottles with olive oil to about a !/4 inch from the top.  Tap bottles on counter, and run sterilized knife around perimeter of bottles to dislodge any air bubbles.  Seal jars and process for 15 minutes.

Because the peppers are preserved in olive oil, the oil is fabulous to use as well.

Honeywood 100 Mile Salad

Hoenywood 100 Mile Salad

I love summer and being able to go out to the garden to pick vegetables.  This summer has been less than stellar, colder than usual, too much rain, and everything is very late.   I am only now able to pick a very few cherry tomatoes. Currently, I am picking lettuce, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, peas, swiss chard, kale, and scallions and shallots.    OK the olives are a stretch, but I did get them from the 100 Mile Store in Cremore.   

I use Kozlik's Mustard made in Toronto, with Ontario mustard seeds.  I have written about their incredible selection of mustards a in the past, my favourite being the Double C, but I  also love Amazing Maple and the Fig and Balsamic Mustard.  For oil I use the organic, virgin soy oil, which has  a very nutty taste, also from Ontario.  

salad

• mixed lettuce greens, from my garden
• zucchini, from my garden
• hard boiled eggs, from my neighbour
• cherry tomatoes, from my garden
• smoked rainbow trout, Georgian Bay
• peas from my garden 
• boiled new potatoes, from my garden
• olives, from the 100 Mile Store in Creemore

dressing

• mustard
• virgin soy oil
• apple cider vinegar
• finely chopped garlic
• salt  and pepper to taste

Don't think we need directions for this one. 

Leg of Lamb over an open fire

Leg of lamb roasted over an open fire

I had guests for the weekend, and so reserved one of the two legs of lamb that The 100 Mile Store receives on a weekly basis.  As a  result of some miscommunication, I ended up with a boneless leg, which turned out to be one of those happy accidents.  It allowed me to place whole sprigs of rosemary and crushed garlic into the bone cavity resulting in a very tasty leg of lamb.  

Denis was visiting and made me a basting brush of branches of herbs freshly cut from the garden.  It looked great, was fun to use and contributed to the flavour of the crust of the lamb. 

I cooked the lamb over an open fire in a hand crafted Mexican fire bowl my friend Paula, who imports high end crafts from Mexico, gave to me.  It is fabulous because the overlapping joints of the diamond shaped metal pieces draws in just the right amount of air under and around the fire to support the fire while providing a large cooking surface.  It is  easy to move,  and the fire is at a good height for cooking. Perfect.

Paula's fire pot

Lamb Leg

1 - 6 to 7 pound leg of lamb, bone removed

3 large cloves of garlic, crushed into a paste

5 sprigs of rosemary

Rub

1/2 cup of coarse sea salt

1 tablespoon smoked hot paprika

1 tablespoon of pepper corns

Basting Brush

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 sprigs of summer savoury

1 sprig of oregano

Lemon Baste

1 lemon

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 sprig of thyme

1 sprig of rosemary

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

salt and pepper

Two hours before starting to cook, build a fire with hardwoods.   Establish a strong bed of coals that will last at least an hour.  I like to have some logs to the side, burning, so that coals can be added to as needed.  

Open up leg of lamb, and rub garlic paste into interior of lamb. Lay rosemary branches down the centre of the lamb, in place of bone.  Role lamb again into shape and tie  tightly with butchers string.  

Pulse sea salt, paprika, and pepper corns in a spice or coffee grinder until a fine consistency.  Pat mixture over exterior of the lamb until completely covered,  the moisture from the lamb will make a paste.  Cover and let rest for at least an hour. 

Prepare the basting brush by bunching the sprigs of herbs around a stick, and tying tightly with butchers string.  

Prepare the basting liquid, wash lemon and grate peel, being careful to only use yellow layer, leaving white pith on the the lemon.  Cut lemon in half and juice.  Add lemon peel, garlic, thyme and rosemary  leaves, and finely chopped garlic into mortar and mash with pedestal, thoroughly blending. Combine the lemon and herb mixture with olive oil and lemon juice.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.    

Place lamb on hot grill over very hot coals.  Turn every 5 minutes or when exterior sears.  Using herbed basting brush, baste lamb with every turn.  Once the exterior is completely sealed, turn every 10 minutes until lamb is done, being careful not to over cook. This could take anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour depending on the heat of the coals and the degree of rareness you prefer. I like my lamb to be closer to red than pink.   

Take lamb off the grill and let rest for at least 20 minutes before cutting. 

Pickled Heirloom Baby Carrots

Market Baby Heirloom Carrots

I have never managed to grow carrots in my country garden, so when I saw these beautiful baby carrots at the market this Saturday I bought them immediately.  The reds and yellows and oranges of the heirloom carrots were so vibrant that I wanted to preserve them and save some for the winter.  

2 bunches of baby carrots
2 small cloves of garlic
2 small Thai hot peppers
1 1/2 cups of cider vinegar
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp of pickling salt
2 tbsp of finely chopped fresh oregano

Cut tops off of carrots leaving about a half inch of the green stem on the carrot.  Carefully scrub the carrots clean with an abrasive cloth.  Sterilize 2 - 8oz jars.  Place a pepper, a garlic clove, and half of the oregano in each of the jars.  Carefully pack the jars with the scrubbed carrots with the point down.

Bring vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a boil.  Pour over carrots, filling jars to 1/2 inch from the top.  Seal the jars and process in boiling water for 15 minutes.   The red from some of the carrots bled, resulting in the pink pickle juice.

Zucchini Flower Frittata

The zucchini are flowering again and I have a bounty of flowers and baby zucchini in my garden.  I plant the zucchini primarily for their flowers and any zucchini that manage to grow are an added bonus.  So Sunday morning, with a houseful of guests, zucchini became the star ingredient for brunch.  

Zucchini Flower Frittata

8 fresh eggs from the market
4 or 5 zucchini flowers
2 or 3 baby zucchini, less than 2"long
1 small onion, about 2 tablespoons when chopped
a handful of fresh herbs from the garden
1/4 cup of freshly coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of olive oil

Serves 4 to 6 

Break eggs into a large bowl and whisk eggs until smooth.  Wash flowers, making sure that no bugs are hiding inside the flowers, and dry.  Remove pestle from the inside of male flowers.  Cut baby zucchini in half length wise.  Finely chop onion.  Clean herbs and coarsely chop.  Dip the flowers in the egg mixture, then dredge in flour.  

Heat oil in heavy cast iron pan, until very hot, but not smoking. Fry dredged zucchini flowers, until golden, on all sides.  Remove flowers and rest on paper towels to remove excess oil.  Turn down heat on stove, remove most of oil from bottom of pan, and saute onions until soft, and baby zucchini until until golden.  Mix half of herbs into remaining whisked eggs.  Turn oven broiler on. 

Spread onion and zucchini mixture evenly over bottom of pan.  Add eggs, arrange zucchini flowers in eggs, and sprinkle the remaining herbs on top.  Cook over medium heat until eggs are firm around edges.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and put on middle rack of oven to cook top half of eggs.  Watch eggs, and when the  eggs puff up they are done.  Do not over cook.  Remove from oven and serve either hot or at room temperature. 

Orange Humus

Orange Humus

I first started making this recipe back in the early eighties. I had recently graduated from university, and was asked by a vegetarian friend to bring humus to her party.  I didn't  know what humus was at the time and of course this was long before the internet.  I had three cook books at the time, Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book which my grandmother gave me when I was eight, The Joy of Cooking which I bought in university and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest which I bought to so that I could feed my vegetarian friends.  Better Homes and Gardens didn't have a recipe, The Joy of Cooking required me to buy 3 ingredients, chick peas, tahini ( I didn't know what tahini was either) and black olives, and the Enchanted Broccoli Forest didn't require the black olives.  Being on a tight budget, the Broccoli Forest recipe was the one I opted for.  It was a huge success and I continue to make orange humus to this day.  My version of the recipe has evolved since then, and continues to be a crowd favorite.  It is incredibly easy to make and is always better if made the night before.

1 540 ml (19 oz) can of chick peas

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander

1 teaspoon of dry ginger

1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

1/2 teaspoon of smoked hot paprika

1/2 cup of concentrated frozen orange juice

1/4 cup of tahini

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of cider vinegar

3 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons of chopped of onion

Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until almost smooth.  Adjust the consistency as required by adding more of the concentrated orange juice if required.  If I have a fresh orange I will grate some of the orange peel into the mixture.  Place in a container, seal and store in the refrigerator. 

Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

This has been an incredibly cold spring, however the rhubarb in my garden is right on schedule.   Years ago my mother bought a rhubarb plant for me as a house warming gift for my place in the country.  She loved rhubarb, and believed that no garden was complete without rhubarb.

The rhubarb plant my mother gave me

 Every spring my mother would make a huge batch of rhubarb stew.  She cut the rhubarb stalks into one inch pieces,  sometimes added chopped ginger, covered the rhubarb with water and boiled the combination until it became mushy.  She would then add sugar until the rhubarb stew was no longer tart and season wth cinnamon.  If strawberries were in season, she would also add berries to the mixture.  My mother would eat this compote in a bowl for breakfast, unadorned, for desert with ice cream or whipped cream, and occasionally spread on toast.  As kids, some of my brothers, but neither my sister nor I, tolerated eating the rhubarb stew. As an adult, I look back and think it was the mushy stringy mess that that was less than desirable rather than the rhubarb itself, unless rhubarb, like liver, is an acquired taste, and something I have grown into over the years.  I recently attended an event where the chef at the new restaraunt in Creemore "The Creemore Kitchen" spooned a similar concoction between split merranges and served with whipped cream.  It was delicous.  

The thing about rhubarb is that if you don't pick it, the stalks get large and stringy and the plant goes to seed.  Once the plant goes to seed, it is not nice to eat, and since my plant gets larger every year, there is a steady supply of rhubarb at this time of year.

I have served rhubarb crumble a few times this spring, once with cranberries and now that the first Ontario strawberries are available at markets, with strawberries and of course with Mad River Ice Cream from the 100 Mile Store in Creemore

Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

serves 4
preheat oven to 350F

• 2 cups of rhubarb,chopped into 1" pieces
• 2 cups of strawberries cut in half
• 2 large tablespoons of honey, I use my neighbour's honey
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of finely chopped or grated ginger

Crumble Topping

• 2 tablespoons of rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons of coarsely sliced/chopped raw almonds
• 2 tablespoons of finely ground almonds
• 2 tablespoons of brown rice flour
• 2 tablespoons of cold butter cut into small chunks
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

In a small casserole dish, approximately 6 inches in diameter, layer rhubarb, then strawberries, add dabs of honey on top and then sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger.

In a separate bowl, mix topping dry ingredients.  Add honey and butter and mix with fingers until mostly small lumps.

Spread crumble evenly over top of fruit mixture.  bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until top is golden and fruit is bubbling around edges.

Ryan's Quail Eggs in a Nest of Ham

This weekend, standing beside me at the counter in the 100 Mile Store in Creemore, was a charming young  man, I am guessing 10 to 12 years old, delivering his quail eggs to the store.   Ryan raises 26 quail that produce three or four dozen eggs a week. The eggs were perfect and very fresh, so of course, I  had to buy a package. What a treat!!!

I told Ryan about one of my favourite pizzas with quail eggs, and he looked at his parents, and I had the sense that pizza was added to their meal plan for the day.  

This is another of my favourites for quail eggs. These nests are mouth sized bites that work well as an appetizer or a special breakfast, and can be made in no time at all.  

Ryan's Quail Eggs in Nests of Ham

10 quail eggs
10 thin slices of serrano ham, taste to ensure it is not too salty, as the saltiness will be amplified when baked and can overpower the eggs
1/4 cup of soft chèvre
fresh ground pepper

1 small muffin tin with 1 1/2"(4 cm) cups

Carefully place a slice of ham in muffin tin, shaping it to fit the cup and ensuring there are no tears.  Place about a teaspoon of the chèvre in the bottom of the ham cup.  Carefully break open the the quail egg into the cup.  The membrane of quail eggs is very tough, and I use scissors to cut the membrane and break open the egg. Grind some fresh pepper on each cup.

Place under broiler and bake for about a minute watching carefully so that the whites are solid, but the yolks still run.  Serve immediately.

Dinner Under the Cherry Blossoms

My Cherry Tree before Dinner

Spring is such a great time of the year, the asparagus is sending up their first shoots in my country garden, the ramps are out in the woods, and my cherry tree is in full bloom in the city.  The tree covers most of my yard, providing a spectacular umbrella over the table.  It is like a beautiful cloud that comes and goes quickly, lasting barely more than a week, dropping petals like confetti from the skies.

To celebrate the arrival of the flowers, I invited some friends for Sunday dinner under the tree.  I grilled asparagus, portebello mushrooms, peppers, heritage cherry tomatoes, new potatoes, chicken and sausage as well as sautéing some wild leeks I had brought from the country.  For desert, we grilled figs and served with ice cream.

Grilled Potatoes, Asparagus, Ramps, Portabello Mushrooms, and Tomatoes

Grilled Asparagus

a bunch of asparagus

good sea salt, I used sel gris 

Heat grill to hot,  I hold my hand over the grill and if I can count higher than 3 it is not hot enough.  Lay asparagus out on grill perpendicular to the grill.  Cook for about a minute or until asparagus starts to brown, roll asparagus to other side and repeat.  Remove asparagus and arrange on serving plate.  Sprinkle with coarse salt, and serve hot or at room temperature. 

Grilled Asparagus

Grilled Portebello Mushrooms

3 large portebello mushroom caps

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 

1 tablespoon of old style mustard, with grains

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

Make a dressing with the olive oil, balsamic and mustard, garlic.  Brush dressing on both sides of mushroom caps.  Heat grill to medium, hold hand to about 5.  Place caps skin side down on the grill and grill until the juices start to run inside the cap, being careful not to burn the underside.  It takes a few minutes.  Flip the cap and grill for another minute,  and then flip again and re baste with the dressing.  Cook for a minute or two more and remove from grill. 

I like to cut the mushrooms into wedges and serve at room temperature. 

Grilled Peppers

Grilled peppers about to be wrapped in news paper

a selection of red, yellow and orange peppers

2 tablespoons of olive oil

juice of a lemon

seasonal herbs

Place whole peppers on a hot grill.  Char skins of peppers, on all sides.  Remove and wrap in newspaper until cool.  Gently peel the charred skin off the peppers, tear the peppers open and remove core and seeds.  Tear remainder of pepper into strips and place in bowl.  Add olive oil, juice of lemon, and some fresh herbs, and serve room temperature. 

Grilled Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

Grilled Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

3 cups of heirloom cherry tomatoes, or a mixture of red and yellow cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 sprig of basil, leaves coarsely torn

Wash and dry tomatoes.  Coat with olive oil and place in barbecue basket.  Over medium heat grill  tomatoes, shaking often.  When tomatoes begin to split and get a bit of colour, remove and place in a bowl.  Add basil and half of cheese.  Toss.  Add remainder of cheese to top of tomatoes.

Grilled New Potatoes

1 quart of small new potatoes

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt

4 sprigs of fresh thyme, stems removed

Par boil potatoes on stove.  Drain, add  1/2 of olive oil, fresh thyme, and coarse salt, and toss well.  put in grill basket and place over hot grill.  Toss occasionally, until the skins of the potatoes are nicely roasted.   Remove and place in bowl.  Stir in the remainder of olive oil, salt and thyme.  Serve either hot or at room temperature. 

Two versions of French Canadian Baked Beans

My friend Denis who is French Canadian came to the country to help with the sugaring off and, and in keeping with the tradition of sugaring off, brought baked beans for the perfect sugaring off lunch.  Denis' version uses molasses, pancetta, and ketchup and is richer, sweeter and darker than my grandmother's.

My grandmother baked beans with maple syrup and ham.  She was also French Canadian and passed the tradition of making baked beans to my very WASP mother. As we were growing up, my mother would begin making baked beans the day after the family finished a large ham, always referencing my father's French Canadian roots as the beans were being served. 

The success of my mother's beans was always relative to the amount of time that the beans were allowed to bake. Baked beans take time, and my mother, sometimes tried to shorten the baking time, which resulted in less than perfect beans. So while it doesn't take much active time to prepare the beans, they do require almost 24 hours of lapsed time to reach perfection. This also makes it the perfect dish for an event because all the work is done the day before, and they are often better the day after.

Denis's French Canadian Baked Beans

Denis's French Canadian Baked Beans

2 1/2 cups of navy beans

1 medium onion

1/3 cup of black strap molasses

1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 teaspoon of dry mustard

2/3 cup of ketchup or tomato paste

1/4 cup of sliced pancetta
salt to taste

Sort and rinse beans and soak overnight in 7 1/2 cups of cold water.  Drain and add 8 cups of cold water, cover and bring to a boil and simmer for a half hour or until tender.  Drain and reserve 2 cups of liquid.

Place sliced onions in bottom of  6 cup bean pot or casserole with tight fitting lid.  Add molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard and soy sauce and salt to beans, and stir.  Add to bean pot, and reserved liquid.  Cover top of beans with pancetta, cover with lid and bake in 300F oven for 2 hours.  Add more water if required to ensure beans remain covered.  Remove lid and stir, and cook for another 2 hours or until sauce is thick.

A Variation on My Grandmother's  Maple Baked Beans and Ham

2 cups of dried white beans, I use kidney beans, my grandma and mother used navy beans
1 large onion
1 shallot,
1 cup of maple syrup
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of dijon mustard 
1 tablespoon of ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon of crushed dried chili pepper
one ham bone or 4 slices of thick bacon
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

Sort and rinse beans and place in a large bowl covering with at least 2 inches of water.  Cover and soak beans for at least 12 hours.  Drain water and place beans in a sauce pan.  Cover with at least an inch of cold water.  Remove any bits of ham that are still on the bone and set aside. Place the bone and bay leaves in the pot along with beans.  Bring to boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until beans are soft, about 45 minutes, adding more water if required.

Preheat oven to 300F.  If using bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and cook until crisp, reserving fat for later.  Dice onion and shallot into 1/2 inch pieces.  

Drain liquid from beans, and set aside. Remove bay leaves. Place beans in a 6 quart baking dish with a tight fitting lid.  I found a bean pot that is similar to the one my mother and grandmother always used at an auction and now use it to bake beans in.  Add onions and shallots, ham or bacon bits, maple syrup, mustard and ginger.  Add a cup of the broth saved from the boiling of the beans.  Cover and bake for about two to three hours or until liquid is absorbed and the beans are tender.  If beans are not tender, add more of the reserved broth and continue cooking until tender.  Remove from the oven, remove ham bone, making sure that any bits of ham still attached to the bone are removed and added to the the beans.  Taste and add salt if required.  Stir in cider vinegar and serve.  

This is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day, so I often complete the day before and refrigerate overnight, and reheat for an hour at a low temperature of about 250F the day of.  It may be necessary to add additional fluids when reheating.  

Note: Navy beans will take longer to cook. 

Baked Pears

While the salad was being prepared and the table set, I realized I had no desert for my dinner guests. Some very ripe pears were sitting on the counter that needed attention and so I thought I would try baking them like apples.  They were ready just in time for desert.

Baked Pears just out of oven

1 pear per person, plus a few extra just in case
1 tablespoon of maple syrup per pear
1 tablespoon of amaretto per pear
1/2 tablespoon of butter per pear

Preheat oven to 375F.  Peel pears and immediately immerse in a large bowl with cold water and the juice of one lemon to prevent the pears from oxidizing and becoming brown.  Mix maple syrup, butter and amaretto in baking pan and melt.  Place pears in baking pan, rolling pears in sauce to ensure they are coated on all sides. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes or until the pear is soft.  Turn pears and baste with sauce every 10 to 15 minutes while cooking.  Serve warm with ice cream.  The warm sauce will turn to toffee when drizzled over the pear and ice cream.  

Baked Pear with Ice Cream and  Maple Toffee

Red River Cereal Bread

There is nothing like the smell of bread baking in the oven except the taste of warm bread just out of the oven.  I began making this bread when I forgot to bring bread to the country and needed something to serve to guests the next morning.  I had seen  Michael Smith on TV making a version of this overnight bread, and thought I would give it a try and now, often make this variation of his recipe on Friday evenings when I arrive up north.

Red River Cereal became my favourite choice for bread, when Ann, who religiously has Red River porridge for breakfast every morning, left a box behind after visiting one weekend. The cereal is a combination of cracked wheat, cracked rye, cracked flax and whole flax, and nothing else.  This "made in Canada" cereal has limited availability outside of the country, and is one of those requests often received from expats abroad, when visited by friends and family from Canada.

Red River Cereal Bread just out of the oven

2 1/2 cups of organic all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups of organic whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of Red River Cereal
1 teaspoon of active dry yeast
2 teaspoons of salt
2 1/4 cups of warm water

Mix all the dry ingredients including the yeast in a large bowl.  Stir in water with the handle of a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are evenly moist.  Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap, and place in a warm place overnight, 8 to 12 hours.  The next morning empty the bowl onto a floured surface.  Gently knead for a couple of minutes and shape to fit the oiled pan you plan to cook it in.  I have used this 4"x8" cast iron pan, a longer, thiner 3"x12" pan and a 6" diameter round pan, equally successfully.  The longer, thiner pan needs less baking time.

Place the dough in the cooking pan, cover and leave for 3 to 4 hours.  The shorter the resting time the denser the bread.  

Heat oven to 425F and cook for 40 to 45 minutes depending on shape of pan.  Cool on rack and serve. 

Vegetarian Chilli

Vegetarian Chili

When my daughter decided to become a vegetarian in grade school, I was motivated to ensure she was eating a balanced diet, however, I was not as thrilled about the idea of eating food that tasted overly righteous.  I had visions of the sixties and seventies and all those vegetarian restaurants that served brown mush. Equally as unappetizing was the idea of tofu disguised as fake meat.

Chilli had been a family staple, and substituting chunks of portabello mushrooms for the meat provided some depth and and texture while not straying too far from our family fav, even if it was dangerously close to a brown mush dish.

If I am organized, the night before, I soak the beans in water with an onion, some thyme and a bay leaf on low in the slow cooker.  Alternately,  I use canned beans in the chili the day of.

When cooked in a slow cooker, the flavours tend to be more complex, because they have the time to meld together.  This recipe also works well on the stove top, in heavy pot and of course, tastes better the next day.

Serves 6 with left overs

• 1 cup of dried black beans, or 1 14 oz can
• 1 cup of dried kidney beans, or 1 14 oz can
• 1 cup of well washed quinoa
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 3 large onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 large portobello mushrooms, cut into 1" squares
• 1 zucchini, cut into 1/4" slices
• 1 red pepper, cut into 1" squares
• 5 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 28 oz  can of whole tomatoes
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 -2 tablespoons of chilli powder depending on the amount of heat you are comfortable with
• 1/2 dried chili, seeds removed to lessen the heat,
• 1/2 teaspoon Spanish piquant paprika,
• 11/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 branch of fresh thyme, or about 1/2 teaspoon of dried
• 1/2 cup of red wine,
• 2 tablespoons of coco powder
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoons of pepper corns
• 2 bay leaves
• smokey salt, salish
• fresh cilantro

In a heavy pan, I prefer cat iron, sauté onions in some of the olive oil, add garlic soften. Place in large cast iron pot or slow cooker. Next sauté the mushrooms, and red pepper, add more olive oil if necessary in the frying pan, add zucchini last and soften.  Add chillies, paprika, cumin and turmeric.  Cook for about a minute.  Transfer to the pot.  Add the remainder of the ingredients except the cilantro. If using a slow cooker, turn to low and leave for 6 hours on low, or high for 4 hours.    On the stove top let simmer for at least an hour.  The longer the better.  Taste and add finishing salt if required.   

Serve with fresh cilantro.  My daughter does not eat dairy, however, I will add a dollop of yogurt, or sour cream on top of mine.