Bruschetta

I'm awful when it comes to posting in here. Truth be told I'd rather spend time making food than blogging about it. I post more frequently in Yummy Recipes (general recipes) and in Metal Porkchop (ferments) on Facebook, because it's faster. However, today I'm sick and don't feel like doing much, so here I am. I can't believe the last post I made was in January. Geez!

By lunchtime I had enough energy to make a tasty meal. So if I can make it while I'm sick, anyone can make it whenever.

I used 4 heirloom tomatoes, a variety that I grew this summer and then froze. Home-grown sun-ripened tomatoes of any variety can't be beat in flavour. I realize that not everyone has access to such treats, so to make up for the loss of flavour, add a bit more spices and a pinch of sugar--the pinch size depends on the size of your batch. It's easier to add than to take out, so always taste before adding more.

Here are the steps:

Heat up butter, add chopped garlic--local is best and most flavourful. The amount depends on your taste buds. I used 4 cloves for my single serving, because I love garlic, plus it's an antibacterial, which I need right now.

Then add chopped onion. I used one small local onion.
I scored a 10 lb bag for 99¢ (compared to $3 for 2 heads of garlic). Small onions are great for use with daily meals, because you can use a whole one and not have to bother with storing the other half.
Side note: If you don't mind the onion smell, onions are a great way to clean the air: just leave a wedge on a plate.

Simmer for a few minutes, then add rosemary, oregano, thyme, and basil. Stir and add tomatoes. Simmer until they soften. After 15 min or so, if you have too much liquid, remove the lid and simmer  until most of it cooks off.

Slice a baguette, toast it if you like, and top each slice with the tomato mixture. You can stop there, or keep going. I added slices of lachsschinken and marscapone. The 4 pieces were my lunch, but if you're making these as appetizers, you can make smaller servings.

Just in time for the holidays! Enjoy! (I did, and I already feel better.)

Chestnut Butter

Chestnut butter is delicious, but impossible to find here, so I make my own. Even chestnut paste is difficult to find.  This chestnut butter recipe is very simple.  All I used were whole chestnuts (only available around Christmas time here), honey, seeds from a vanilla bean, a pinch of salt, and some water.

Cut x's into chestnuts and boil them for about half an hour. Rinse in cold water, peel. Use a food processor and add all ingredients, add enough water to get a spreadable consistency (see photo below). Put into a jar and refrigerate. Chestnut butter like pumpkin butter is dicey when it comes to canning, because they're both so thick, so don't bother, unless you have access to an industrial canner.

Meyer Lemons

Meyer lemons are delicious, and here in Canada they're only available for a short time around Christmas. Each year I buy a bunch and preserve them in various ways. They're sweeter than lemons, their skin is more delicate, and they are very fragrant.

Here are some of my preserves:

Meyer lemon marmalade, which can be used on scones, bread, cakes, cupcakes, mixed into yogurt or ice cream (vanilla or sweet cream), or on its own; it's awesome.

Three ingredients: lemons, sugar, water. That little pouch of cheesecloth contains the lemon seeds, which provide all the pectin you'll need for this tasty treat. Canning time 5 minutes.

Candied Meyer lemon slices:

lemon slices, water, sugar, cook down until all the liquid is gone. You can lay out the slices on a plate/cookie sheet/ parchment paper to dry. I don't bother, just put the slices in a jam bowl with a lid.

Meyer lemon sugar:

Grated Meyer lemon skin and cane sugar. You can do this with salt (and some herbs) as well and use as a rub for fish and chicken, in salads, wherever you want a savoury lemon flavour.

Meyer lemon chutney:

Meyer lemon slices with maple smoked sea salt, shallots, and truffle oil. I kept these in the fridge for a whole year. Very strong, so a little goes a long way. Had both chutneys with various white fish at Christmas. You don't need to wait that long, just give it a week or two for the flavours to mingle. By the end of the 12 months all the oil had been absorbed into the lemons. The flavour was very intense and salty. 

Meyer lemon slices with crushed juniper berries, chilli flakes, maple smoked sea salt and oil.

Another thing I do is wash, dry, and freeze whole Meyer lemons (I do this with regular lemons as well). Then instead of squeezing lemon into my morning water, I grate the whole thing, so I get juice, pulp, and skin.  You can also dehydrate slices and use in tea or water, or dehydrate skins (peel off before squeezing out juice which you can freeze in ice cube trays and add to water) and then crush/crumble into salads, soups, tea. Another way to preserve is to slice the lemon and layer it in a jar with sugar (I use raw cane sugar) and store in the fridge, then when I feel like lemon tea I just add a slice to my cup. Just don't waste any part of these yummies.

Quinoa Salad with Apple Cider Vinegar

Quinoa is a super versatile food, it's also tasty, healthy, and an ancient grain, meaning it hasn't been tampered with the way some other grains have been.  Two years ago I planted some quinoa seeds in my backyard, but as soon as they sprouted, the bunnies cleared all the sprouts.  I'd like to plant quinoa again, because it has amazing flowers and because I like using it in various ways.

This is a very simple quinoa salad.  It can be adjusted by using various ingredients.  What makes it yummy is the basic salad dressing, which is oil and apple cider vinegar.

To start, cook some quinoa, I usually use one cup, and it makes enough for three meals.  While the quinoa is cooking, heat some butter in a pan.  Wash and cut up a zucchini, and add to the butter.  Wash the kale, tear the leaves into pieces, discard the hard stems, and add to the pan.  Cut up a head of broccoli and add it to the mix.

Cut up a tomato.  I like plum tomatoes for stuff like this, because they aren't as juicy/seedy.

Once the quinoa is done, put it in a bowl, add the veg, season with salt and pepper, mix it all up.  Pour a bit of apple cider vinegar and olive oil or grape seed oil over top, mix it in.  Cut up some feta, and sprinkle over top.  One of the grocery stores I go to sells Macedonian feta, which I prefer to the various Greek fetas.  It's creamier and not as salty, almost like something between goat's cheese and Greek feta.

I've made this salad with peppers, onions, spinach, mushrooms, olives, sunflower seeds.  You can use whatever you have on hand.  A lot of the recipes I come up with are based on ingredients I have or need to use up.  This salad is yummy warm or cold, and perfect for lunches and picnics.

Light Summer Breakfast

Warm weather usually makes me crave lighter foods.  I love cottage cheese, sweet or savoury; it makes a perfect first or second breakfast.  Here it's just cottage cheese with raw local honey, wild blueberries, and a slice of whole rye bread (the dark moist kind made with whole grains of rye).  This particular whole rye bread is made with hazelnuts and seeds, and is called muesli.  Sometimes I get sunflower, but  the plain one is my favourite.

Cauliflower Pasta

This pasta is so easy and quick to make, it's delicious, and inexpensive even when cauliflowers are pricy.

All you'll need is
-a cauliflower, cut into florets
-butter
-garlic
-egg noodles (or pasta of your choice); if you've been reading my blog, you'll know I love egg noodles
-about 250 ml of heavy cream
-chili peppers, crushed (adjust amount to your taste buds)
-fresh or dry thyme
-1tbsp of breadcrumbs
-s&p

Cook the cauliflower in a pot of salted water for about 10 minutes, you don't want it to be overcooked.  Drain or remove with a slotted spoon, but save the water.  In a pan melt the butter and add garlic for a few minutes.  Depending on your taste buds and the garlic you're using, you may need one clove or a few cloves.  Add bread crumbs, chili, thyme and cauliflower to the pan.  Add about 5 tbsps of the reserved water, stir, and simmer.  After about 10 minutes, take the pan off the heat, beat in the egg and add the cream.  You can cook the pasta in the remaining cauliflower water.  You always want pasta to be al dente, as in not cooked all the way through, because it absorbs the sauce once mixed, and continues to get softer.  Drain pasta, put in a dish, pour the sauce over, and enjoy.

Another variation is to cook the cauliflower as above.  Melt the butter and add garlic.  Then add the cauliflower to the pan.  Cook you pasta in the cauliflower water.  Once done, drain and pour the pasta into the pan with the cauliflower.  Season with s&p, put on plates, and top with Parmesan.

Grilled Cheese +

Greetings Y'All!

It has been far too long.  I have over 400 photos of foods I've made since my last post over six months ago.  I've been so busy and tired, that even though I took loads of pics, I didn't have the time to write and post stuff.  I'm still busy with school and various other courses, plus gardening--I finally have a proper veg garden, not just a patch any more--and just day-to-day stuff.

Anyway, I should be doing homework, but I decided that today is the day I get back to this blog.  Maybe it was this amazing sandwich I made for a late lunch.

Here it is, so easy, quick, filling, and delicious.  And you know I don't make unhealthy stuff.

Cut up some onion--I used half for this one sandwich--and sauté in butter with s&p, and maple syrup.  You want enough maple syrup to make sure all the onion bits are in it.  

Let it all simmer until it gets thick, like a jam.  BTW, you could use this as a condiment on all kinds of stuff.

In another pan make your grilled cheese sandwich.  I used 2 small buttered sourdough rye slices with old cheddar.  Once it's done, put it on a plate and use the same pan to fry an egg.  

Top the ready grilled cheese sandwich with the onion jam, add a slice of ham or bacon, or sausage (which is what I used), or some other tasty pork meat, and add the egg.  

You could just leave it with the onions, but I had a late lunch, so I was hungry.  I'm not hungry any more, but if I had another one of these sandwiches in front of me, I'd eat it.  The maple syrup with the onions was amazing, and its sweetness was yummy enough that I didn't crave dessert.  If you know me, you know that I always want dessert.  Pair this gem with a tasty beer and you're good to take on the world.  I had a glass of Hacker-Pschorr (German).

Cheers!