Being sick is for chumps.  I’ve been home for 11 days.  The bright side, if this situation can be said to have a bright side, is that my lying-around-on-the-couch chops are really honed in time for the post-season.  Also, let the record show that yes we overprescribe antibiotics and yes “Western medicine” is scrip-happy, but when you need antibiotics YOU NEED THEM.  I presented with the kind of throat infection that made my dr. say “Eurgh!” when I said “aaaah”.  You get no countercultural points staying at home with a fever.

Now that I’m lucid and mobile enough to prepare my own food, here’s an immune-boosting brothstravaganza that soothes the savage throat.  Inspired by phó but beefless:

In a medium soup pot, bring 8 cups water to a boil with:

3 cloves garlic, skins on, flattened with the side of a knife
2 oz. dried mushrooms [we used chanterelles because that's what we had; shiitake would be even better]
1 thumb sized piece of ginger; peel it, set aside about a knuckle-sized peeled chunk, slice the rest thinly and put the thin slices and the peel in the water

That's what the julienne peeler does for the carrot

3 dried Thai chilis
1/2 tsp white peppercorns
1/2 tsp pink peppercorns
2 tsp coriander seeds
the top and tail of a carrot [you'll need the rest below]
the top and tail and leaves of a celery stick [see below]
the top, tail, and half of a white onion, sliced [now you're gettin' it]
5 stars of star anise
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp kosher salt

This whole shootin’ match should be brought to a boil, then lowered to simmer, and simmered for as long as you can stand it or until all the colour has been leached out of your veggies and your whole house smells like star anise. Strain and RESERVE THE LIQUID; throw away the spices and veggies. Set stock aside.

(more…)

Is it a salad?  Is it a stir-fry?  Who can say, in these challenging pre-Olympian days?  Alls I know is, it’s good, and it’s not expensive.

You will need:

1 bunch coriander, washed and de-stemmed

om nom nom nom nom

1 block extra firm tofu cut into 1 cm cubes [w00t metric system]
1 red pepper in 1 cm dice [I'm-a roll with it]
1 bunch bok choy, sliced
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp Bragg’s [Tamari would work but might be a bit oppressive]
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 packet broad rice noodles, soaked in boiling water, rinsed and set aside
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
Sesame seeds

In a blender, purée half of the bunch of coriander with the rice vinegar, Bragg’s, and chili-garlic sauce.  A bit of water can help it “flow” a bit better.  In a bowl or Tupperware, pour this blended mixture over the tofu cubes and set aside.

In a wok or stir-fry pan, heat the canola oil over medium-high.  Sauté the red pepper and the substantial parts of the bok choy for a couple of minutes.  Throw in the rice noodles, tofu cubes and dressing.  Stir thoroughly.  Add the thin parts of the bok choy leaves and the rest of the coriander, coarsely chopped [you can keep some aside for garnish or if you're all coriandered-out; my feelings on this fine herb are well known].  Keep stirring until the leaves are wilted and the mixture is heated through.  Toss with dark sesame oil.  You can serve now with sesame seeds on top or set it aside to cool and it’ll be most excellent the next day.  Also.

Tastes best when you watch it with the football episode of Glee.

This is without a doubt the best garden we’ve ever had.  True, it’s just a little corner deck, but we’ve been working on it for 7 years and

These are the sweet 100s. This plant is twice this size by now (this was taken in June)

this year has been by far the most proper “crops” [such as they are] of tomatoes and lettuce.

These pics are when they were green and I have been a) too hungry and b) not organized enough to take pics of a harvest, when we go out for the San Marzanos and Sweet 100s and make good fresh pasta or salads.  Linguini with halved cherry and mini-orange tomatoes, tossed with some of our unusually successful basil and chives, with butter and fresh Padano, is quite the last-minute snack…but is far too pretty not to eat immediately after a long day of teaching.  Sorry.

The lettuce was something I’ve been meaning to do for years and every single year I tried it it bolted before we ever got anywhere.  What I did this year was wait for months, way

yummi lettus

after when you are supposed sow it, even right into the heat wave.  Inexplicably no bolting…just delicate Grand Rapids, Buttercrunch, a red leaf variety that I forget the name of, and a bit of baby red chard thrown in for good measure.  It makes me wish we’d planted the white beans this year.  I have a feeling it would have been a good one.

And some interblog miscellany.  Btw, M really is watching American Idol.  I’m keeping a safe distance.

Stupid blackberry pictures; it looks like leftovers. IT'S FRESH.

I wanted you guys to know that I made the quinoa salad up with barley ’cause I ran out of quinoa and it was actually great, maybe even better in terms of consistency, cause barley is such a toothy grain that it soaked up the dressing and extra liquid in the veggies in a most marvellous way.  Here’s a variation that includes black beans, some heirloom tomatoes, a bit of crumbled feta, wilted [on purpose!] kale, and half a shallot that I rescued from the fridge.

Also, some of you have expressed interest in a mala, and I’m happy to make one for you to your specifications [or just freestyle one], but I gotta be honest:  these stones weren’t cheap:  depending on what you want I’d love to hook you up but be prepared to set aside some coin for materials.  If you’re STILL interested in spite of my baleful fiscal caveat, please let me know in comments or email me at my first name backwards at gmail dot com.

OH AND!  I think for Mayday this year it’s time to bring back Big Rock Fridays.  And by “bring back” I mean going all the way back:  Big Rock Friday I, the jam that started it all, back when we only had 35 people in there instead of 229 [Note to building inspectors:  /sarcasm/].  My original intention was to create a set of wicked awesome playlists that we could play with every Friday and I think we have enough wicked awesomeness to proceed, don’t you?

This was far FAR too amazing not to link to.  This guy is…well, just watch the thing, would you?

Okay, now M’s watching Notorious, a bit better, although it’s worth noting that just in time for the return of BRF Classic, Slash will be the guest on American Idol next week.  COINCIDENCE??!?!?!?/1?!??!slashslash??one?!  I gave up believing in coincidences a long time ago, actually.

I was sitting around bemoaning the paucity of recent posts on this blog [cause, you know, it's not like I write it or anything] and M decided to contribute in the interests of general bloggery: his apartment-famous chili recipe. This is a chili non carne, e.g. vegetarian, but meaters can feel free to bite his style where relevant [spice blends &c.]. Total cooking time is minimum 95 minutes [we know this because it took as long as it takes to watch Titan AE]

You will need:

1 serrano chili
1 small cooking onion
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp dried whole rosemary
1/2 tsp dried whole thyme leaves
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp white peppercorns
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp canola oil ["a good blurble", and I quote]
1 tbsp olive oil [presumably as above]
4 cups white mushrooms, cut into quarters
3 sweet bell peppers [a medley of colours is nice, like one orange, one red, and one yellow...but NOT green], cut into 1″ sided triangles
1 zucchini, cut into quarters and then 1/2″ wedges
1 bag of frozen corn OR 3 cobs’ worth of fresh corn kernels
1 package Yves’ Mexican Ground Round OR you could use TVP in a pinch
1 can each: red kidney beans, black beans, and navy beans, all drained and rinsed thoroughly. You know, I used to think you saved money buying the conventionally grown beans. But then I started to realize that each can contained about 45% beans in the c.g. cans, whereas the organic cans are so packed full of beans that space-time compresses slightly around each can, which makes them heavy to carry but well worth the effort and minimal extra cost.
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes [M likes Unico]
1 can tomato paste
Pinch dried habanero pepper powder [Please do not literally pinch the habanero powder. This saga is worth a whole blog post in and of itself. You know, if you don't have dried habanero powder, then you're a normal civilian, and you can use a couple shakes of chili powder. And I quote, "Or, you know....to taste...like what your heat tolerance is...(and then a pregnant pause)"]
1/4 bottle Corona [What you do with the rest is up to you.]
1/4 cup water
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

In the food processor, mince serrano, onion and garlic. Set aside.

In a mortar and pestle, grind all dried herbs and spices [EXCEPT the habanero] and kosher salt. The salt helps abrade and wear down the seed casings and dried cellulose of dried spices, so let it work for you. When ground as finely as you can, sift through a fine sieve or mesh strainer to remove any remaining shells/husks. Discard shells/husks. Set spice mix aside.

In The Blue Pot, an enamelled cast-iron casserole, or heavy large pot of your choice, heat canola oil over high heat. Add mushrooms and a couple of shakes of salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Saute, stirring well, for about 7-8 minutes or until browned and releasing their juices. Add food-processed aromatics and stir to combine. Saute together until onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add Yves’ ground round and stir to combine.

SPOON OR FORK??

Add dried spice/salt mix from mortar and breathe deeply, a.k.a. huff it a little. Stir to combine. Once everything seems heated through and browned, deglaze with Corona and water [you get a sort of mushroom-based gravy here]. It’s at this point that pretty much everything else goes in: corn, peppers, zucchini, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and drained/rinsed beans. You’ll regret not purchasing that chin-up bar when it comes time to stir this all together, but do so as best as you can. It seems like it’s about to bust out of your pot but it will render down.

Here’s where the habanero powder comes in. If you add it too soon it maces your whole apartment/house. Add that sucker and STIR THOROUGHLY. Lower heat to medium [depending on the heat of your stovetop you may wish to lower to medium-low]. Cook time from this point is close to an hour. Simmer uncovered, stirring often. More stirring creates more “bean gravy”, the ostensible point of this chili. The goal, I’m told, is to have your spoon standing straight up in the pot.

Serve with sour cream and chopped cilantro, and some Kevlar protective gear.

My mom asked me for this recipe ages ago and apparently it made quite a splash in my hometown. Although the cheques keep rolling in day after day, I have chosen to make this recipe open-source on the grounds that all civilization, and especially The Children, will be benefitted by the distribution of this fine salad.

Cook 1.5 cups dried quinoa in 3 cups water until the liquid has evaporated and the husks are starting to release from the grains.

It's a quinoa WONDERLAND!!!1!

Fluff, cover, take off heat and set aside. Fluff again after about 10 minutes and put in the fridge, or if you’re Canuckistani, outside to cool.

You will also need:

1 English cucumber, topped and tailed and cut into sliced quarters
1 package grape or cherry tomatoes, halved. These little tomatoes will work better than the big ‘uns since their skins help them preserve their structural integrity during the salad-making and storing phase.
OPTIONAL: A good-sized chunk of feta cheese, cut into 1/2″ cubes. Tofu would do if you’re hard up or feeling sorry for yourself, and Bryanna Clark Grogan’s soy-feta is wicked awesome for you vegan cats out there.
1 bunch cilantro, chopped. If you are a cilantro-hating Philistine you can make a respectable tabouleh-esque facsimile of this salad using parsley
1 package pea shoots or similarly robust sprout like sunflower, chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1 shallot, diced finely
1 tbsp lemon juice
Couple of splashes of Bragg’s
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Sea salt and pepper

In a large [LARGE] bowl, combine cucumber and tomatoes and a couple shakes of salt.  Stir to cover and let rest for about 15 minutes to release any extra water out of these vegetables before you prepare the salad.  Drain if necessary.

Add feta or feta-substitute, chilled cooked quinoa, cilantro, and then shift to an even larger bowl or even stock pot because you didn’t realize when I said “large” up above I really meant like the largest bowl you have.  Then add the pea shoots now that you have room.  Stir to combine.

In a smaller bowl or measuring cup, whisk together garlic, shallot, lemon, Bragg’s, cayenne and olive oil.  A couple of shakes of black pepper never go amiss.  Pour over grains’n'vegs in giant bowl and wind to combine thoroughly.  Make the stirring of this salad a mini-meditation on the glories of quinoa.  It will last for a really long time, so you can serve it as a side or bring it with you to work as a mini-meal or adjunct to a more substantial meal.  It also goes over very well at potlucks as it looks awesome and is suitable for wheat-free diets.  Also it costs about CDN$10.50 and will feed a small army.

Insert dirty sounding double-entendres here. Yes, yes, I know. M proposed this as an alternative to my “boeuf” “bourguignon” since we had egg noodles and sour cream on hand. I was dubious but I figured I’d just freestyle it. I freely acknowledge that this may have nothing to do with an actual stroganoff, hence the scare quotes…

You will need:

Heh. "Stroganoff"

1 lb white mushrooms, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cooking onion in fine dice
2 stalks celery in fine dice
1 large carrot in fine dice
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 tsp dried parsley
Red wine
2 “beef” bouillon cubes
2 splashes Bragg’s
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 package veggie “beef” tenders, chopped coarsely
About 3 handfuls of dried egg noodles or vegan equivalent
3 tbsp all-purpose flour dissolved in 1/2 cup of water. Stir it A LOT. No chunks.
Sour cream or tofu sour cream to serve

In a medium enamelled cast-iron stew pot, heat olive oil and some salt and pepper on high. Add sliced mushrooms. Saute until the pan dries, stirring regularly; set aside. Add a bit more olive oil and S&P and add mirepoix + garlic. Saute for what will seem an impossibly long time, stirring a lot. This will be a labour of love and you’re trying to render down the veggies. Patience is a Stroganoff virtue. When the pan is dry when scraped with a wooden spoon [5-7 minutes?], add 1/4 cup red wine, dried parsley and a splash or two of filtered water. Keep stirring, keep uncovered, cook until pan bottom is dry again. Add potatoes, “beef” and cooked mushrooms. Stir to cover and heat through. Add water to cover, bouillon cubes, Bragg’s, a bit more pepper and a splash of red wine. Cover to boil and cook for 10 minutes or so, until potatoes are more than tender and close to falling apart when forked. Add noodles and cook for another 5 minutes. Lower heat and simmer for as long as you can stand it…15 more minutes? Stir in dissolved flour. Simmer a bit longer, God help us all. Remove from heat, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. A dollop of sour cream and some chopped flat-leaf parsley will set it up nicely.

Oh, the luscious decadence of preparing my own meals…hot diggity. This was simple and cost-effective, and it’s great to eat a meal at home. It’s funny how it switches like that: you’ll be so tired of cooking or doing whatever menial chore gets your particular goat, and then you travel and hosts of excellent restaurants present themselves, and all you want to do is just slice some onions in your own kitchen. Well, I do anyway.

You’ll need:

Splash canola oil
1 shallot, half of it in fine dice, the other half left peeled and whole
2 cloves garlic, one finely sliced, the other one left peeled and whole
A thumb-knuckle sized chunk of ginger, peeled and whole
1 stalk celery, julienned on an angle
Half a red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 package extra-firm tofu, cut into cubes
1 bunch cilantro with the bottom ends of the stems cut off
Couple of sprigs of Thai basil [Italian basil will work in a pinch]
3 tsp green curry paste [I found a rad one in the local grocery today: it says J-Lek with some unintelligible Thai characters afterwards. Good luck and Godspeed.]
1 can coconut milk
1 package frozen peas [ideally organic]
OPTIONAL: pea shoots, chopped in inch-long pieces
Splash rice vinegar

TO GARNISH: Chopped unsalted peanuts and lime wedges

[I recommend that you cook some whole grain of some sort to go along with this; we had brown rice. Some rice noodles would be awesome.]

Cut off the cilantro stems. Put them in the blender with the coconut milk, 2 tsp of green curry paste, basil, whole shallot, whole garlic, whole ginger, and about half a cup of water. Blend thoroughly, and sit tight.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the canola oil on medium-high heat. Add one tsp of green curry paste and stir. Add tofu, veggies, shallot and garlic. Stir to heat and saute, stirring well, for just a couple of minutes. Add peas, stir, and heat thoroughly [another couple of minutes], then cover with the blended sauce. Heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add pea shoots if using, and rice vinegar to taste. Depending on your curry paste you may wish to salt a little more at this point; the paste I got was wicked salty, so I got off the hook in that respect. I also threw in some chopped cilantro at this point because I’m a cilantro junkie who can never be satiated. Simmer for another 5 or 10 minutes and then let rest off of the heat.

Ladle curry over grains or noodles and garnish with some sliced fresh basil, chopped cilantro leaves, a wedge of lime, and some chopped peanuts.

All the best nerdy shows like House MD and Heroes are on on Monday so it’s good to have a steaming hot bowl of awesome to sit down with.

Sent from my BlackBerry! hurray

Yes, I know it’s actually the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, but my God, that’s a glaring oversight on the part of Corporate America™. It should SO be the Salsa Bowl. What is a Fiesta Bowl anyway? Actually, this soup might be one…

It’s in a tomato-cilantro base but would also make up well with canned diced tomatoes, or if you are one of those peculiar humans with an antipathy towards cilantro you could substitute a neutral green like chard or spinach. Cilantro is the “green” in this soup; one full bunch is not a typo!

1/4 cup olive oil
1 cooking onion in 1/8″† dice
1 fresh jalapeno, minced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 medium zucchini in 1/4″ dice
1 red bell pepper in 1/4″ dice
Sea salt and fresh black pepper
1/2 tsp. ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp. whole cumin
1 package frozen corn OR 4 or 5 cobs’ worth of fresh corn kernels
1 small can black beans, drained and thoroughly rinsed
1 bunch cilantro, some stems reserved for garnish, the rest chopped finely
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
3 “chicken” bouillon cubes
Couple of splashes of Bragg’s
3 bay leaves

In a large soup pot heat olive oil on medium high. Add onion, jalapeno, garlic, bell pepper, zucchini, ancho chili powder and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Saute for about 7 minutes, until onion is translucent and pot-bottom is dry when scraped with a wooden spoon [You may need to turn the heat up; the veggies‡ should be cooking pretty briskly. Stir often!!]

Add corn and black beans; stir to cover and continue cooking, stirring regularly, until heated through. Add canned crushed tomatoes and water to fill the soup pot about 1″ shy of the top. Throw in Bragg’s, bouillon cubes and bay leaves; give it a stir, cover and heat until boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for at least half an hour. Serve with fresh cilantro sprigs, whole-grain toast and maybe even a bit of Monterey Jack grated on top if you’re into that kind of thing.

†Confession:  It should come as no surprise to my friends and readers that I scored pretty high in the online Asperger’s Disorder test [a 32, where 35 is a confirmed diagnosis].  So I am coming at this vegetable cutting thing in a very organized, some might say even frighteningly specific way:  I take the size of the ingredient I can’t change [in this case, corn and beans] and cut the other vegetables so that they are basically the same size.  [M interjects that this is pretty typical culinary technique] So far, so good, right?  BUT!  But.  Then you scale down slightly to find the size of yer onion-cutting.  Because if I find cooked onions that are bigger than any other item in a soup or mixed vegetable dish, I have to wash my hands thrice and turn around counterclockwise before I eat it.  No, not really, but I do pick them out and I don’t like it I DON’T LIKE IT.  There, now you have it.

‡I’ve made this soup as a base for tons of different veggie combinations:  yams, celery, other peppers or squashes.  I toyed with putting in 1/2 cup of dried quinoa at the bouillon-adding stage but since the broth was so pretty I chose not to.  If you love quinoa and are needing to increase the ol’ whole-grain intake, give it a whirl and let me know how it goes.

Lincoln and the Union Christmas Dinner. They didn't have Tofurkey because Lincoln was Republican.

I had originally written an impressionistic post that was just bragging about our Christmas Eve and the dinner we had going on. I’ve since decided that that was kind of jerky, and to share this masterpiece with the world. A little context here: We couldn’t leave to see M’s family since we’ve been snowed in with what’s being described as the worst snowstorm Vancouver has had in 25 years, so we put on all our gear and hauled up to Capers in the cavalcade of last minute shopping and about 2′ of wet snow. Our mandate was, if you saw anything you wanted [croissants, pie, ice cream, chocolate, fruit, smoked salmon &c.] it went in the basket, and Capers is now part of Whole Foods [a.k.a. Whole Paycheck] so it was quite the lavish treat. We even got imported organic wild cranberry sauce and avoided the traditionally revered, yet repellent, “stshtshstshthtshthup” of the canned stuff. This was a combined effort, but you can do it yourself if needed. Feeds 2 people twice [Christmas Eve and Christmas Day] or 4 people once!! All recipes below the fold.
(more…)