When its too hot out to eat: Farm Salad 4evah

Hello dearies.

I have been wanting to post this one for a while, and given that I just rode my bike through a December downpour in the dark, I thought I would finally unleash this jewel as a big middle finger to winter and a giant big-ups (yeah, people still say that) to sweet sweet summer.

I invented this salad when working on the farm during a summer where temperatures rose to 47 Celsius, and all we were wishing for was 72 hours of cold December rain (or at least a bitchin' rendition of November Rain). It's perfect because it's light yet filling and contains fruits, vegetable and everybody's favourite, tiny purple potatoes pan fried in butter. aww yeah.

Farm salad is something I make constantly in the summer when I'm not spending hours arranging my farmers market haul in order to take food porn pictures.The best part is that the salad evolves with the seasons and is a perfect excuse to experiment with the most beautiful, colourful produce you can find. Arranging this salad is like making art.

All the fixins:

3-4 small potatoes: purple, fingerlings or baby new
1 egg or a couple egg whites
1 handful of raw, shelled, unsalted pumpkin seed
Plateful of green: baby kale, arugula, baby chard, fava tips, pea shoots, mustard greens, tat soi, mizuna, alfalfa, yo mama (just checking)
1 small golden beet (I have a huge crush on these), cut into chunks
1 handful cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 small summer squash (yellow crookneck is quite lovely), cut into chunks
1 handful berries (blue, straw, black, rasp)
1 nectarine or a few yellow plums, cut into chunks
1 small handful of finely chopped basil and parsley
Goat cheese


Drop it like it's hot:

Roast the beets in the oven with bit of oil until tender (sometime I do a big batch of these for the many farm salads I will be eating in the coming days). Pan fry the chopped potatoes in a bit 'o butter until golden, season with salt and pepper and set aside (if you have garlic scapes on hand, fry these together an you will cry tears of joy). In the same pan scramble the egg. In a dry pan, lightly toast the pumpkin seeds until they begin to pop, but not for so long that you begin to fear for your eyes.

In the meantime, assemble the rest of the salad in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, but leaving the goat cheese out. Add the beets, potatoes, and egg. Top with crumbled goat cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds. Drizzle with the vinaigrette I always make (see below) and congradulate yourself on how fast, easy, healthy and beautiful your dinner is. Now, go for a swim.

The vinaigrette I always make:

1 part extra virgin olive oil
2 parts balsamic vinegar
2 tbs dijon mustard (with horseradish if you are of the Eastern European persuasion)
2 tbs pure maple syrup
fresh ground pepper

Put everything in a jar and shake it until combined.

Seriously, even though this seems like your regular salad, there is something about the combination of the greens and fruit with the acidity of the dressing, the creaminess of the goat cheese, and the hardiness of the potatoes and egg that just make this the most well-balanced salad I've ever had. whew. I can't believe I managed to mention every ingredient in one sentence. Good for me...AND good for you. Enjoy.

***Oma's tip or this recipe: When I was a girl we ate this salad everyday uphill both ways, barefoot.

Soda Bread

Hup hup hup! I haven't posted in forever so here's a quick post for a quick recipe. I ended up baking this bread for a euro-style music theme party. Not the tastiest bread I've ever baked but definitely the quickest. No need to let the dough rise with all the baking soda. Here's a link to the recipe. Now that's easing back into the blog.

Use Your Underburger

Oh man.

There is really not enough I can say about these veggie burgers. Full of goodness, well spiced, no weird soy additives, and so pleasantly plump that you'll need to maximize both sides of the burger as vessels for toppings. You gots to USE your underburger, friend.

Charlotte introduced me to these many moons ago, and everytime I incorporate them into a weekly meal plan, I just want to give myself a big golden star (or two medium golden triangles). The recipe comes from the Whitewater Cafe, a Nelson B.C. establishment that I hear is the bee's knees, but the last time I was in Nelson I was passing out from stomach flu and saw almost nothing (except half of a wedding...but I digress).

Ok, the ingredient list is long, and could be considered intimidating for this reason, but it ain't no thing, just a whole lot of simple ingredients mashed together, formed into patties, pan-fried, and shoved in your face.

Here goes:

1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced

1 tbsp cumin
1.5 tbsp chili powder
1 can (about 2 cups) black beans, drained, rinsed and roughly pureed (you can use a fork)
1 tsp oregano
1/4 c. parsley and/or cilantro finely chopped (you could also try basil, which I imagine would be quite lovely)

2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 c. almonds, roasted and chopped (taste way better when you buy them raw and roast them in a dry pan over high heat...but you've got to watch these puppies because they will burn)

1 c. sunflower seeds, roasted and chopped (same as above)
3 c. fine whole wheat or spelt bread crumbs
1/2 c. tamari (oops there IS soy in this afterall, but at least it's not a ground beef poser)
5 eggs (yes, 5 eggs)
2 c. carrots, grated (get someone else to do this. grating carrots sucks)
2 c. rolled oats

whole grain flour for dredging
oil for 'a fryin'




Les Actions:

In a large skillet, saute onions and garlic in a splash of oil until golden brown. Let cool. Mix ALL the remaining ingredients (except fryin' oil and flour) and add the cooled onions and garlic (if they are still hot they will accidentally cook the eggs, resulting in potential nastiness).

Use your hands as much as possible.

When everything is combined, shape the mixture into manageable sized patties and dredge both sides in flour. Heat oil (veggie is best for this, unless you like filling your apartment with smoke) in a large skillet and cook burgers until both sides are brown flipping them as needed. I made these several times when I ran the community kitchen at the downtown eastside neighbourhood house and they almost caused a riot. This is a good one for community kitchens because there's lots of prep and lots of jobs for people to do.

Now, as I said before, underburger usage is crucial here. Line the bun with all your favourite buddies (I'm a sucker for ketchup, so bad, but so good). May I recommend dijon, avocado, sunflower sprouts, tomato, sharp cheddar, arugula and pickles? Now, I often find that I don't need a top bun, as this thing gets so damn big, so I sub it for a large-leaved green (spinach, kale, various forms of lettuce) to keep it all contained.



These babies are too good.

Ok, a few last tips:

• The recipe above makes a copious amount of burgers (I think last time I made them we had 25 patties or so). I recommend halving the recipe, but still using the full amount of beans and definitely 3 eggs (yes, 3 eggs)
  
• Cook all patties at the same time. Don't keep these in your fridge uncooked for a few days... the raw egg and all.
  
• A friend suggested freezing them if you find you've just had too much underburger. I have yet to try this, but it seems like it could work.
  
• These are filling. I am a founding member of the big eater's club, and I still find 1 patty enough for dinner.
• Keep lots of big gold stars on hand, once you make these, you're gonna need them.
  

***Oma's tip for this recipe: for a meatier flavour, use ground beef. Silly Oma!


source: Whitewater Cafe cookbook

The Moss St. Market here in Victoria opened a few weekends ago. It was April on the west coast; cold and windy. There were only 6 stalls, but I still lost it, and came home with fresh kale, arugula, eggs, sourdough, rhubarb and tears of happiness. It made me so happy to cook with really really fresh ingredients again, and also inspired me to get this shit restarted.

The other day, I was thinking about starting a new blog, but every idea I had came back to food. But then I thought, "Gosh darn it (have to balance out the s-bomb from before), THIS is a food blog, it just needs to get woken up". So my dears, let's give it a little nudge.

xo,

kpk

My Favourite Breakfast

Ok hosers, it has been too long, and my face reddens in e-embarrassment when I see the date of the last post, so here is a short and sweet one about the breakfast I try to eat everyday. It's filling, healthy and contains vegetables, therefore giving the green light to a guilt-free dinner of chocolate cake and yam fries (just kidding...well not really).


Egg scramble proceeds like so:

Saute in virgin organic coconut oil or oilve oil: yams, purple potatoes, onions
When browned add in: shredded kale leaves and/or buds (or spinach or chard), green beans and cilantro
Pour in egg whites (egg yolks make me hurl, I attribute it to repressed childhood memories involving the enforced eating of eggs sunny side up....but if you don't have this reaction, by all means do partake in the real thing)
Season with: Sea salt (the grey kind is so good) and fresh pepper. Herbs de Provence is really nice too.
Scramble until you can't scramble no more and then grate some extra old cheddar on top.

I love to eat this with double toasted german rye bread (the really thin dark stuff), fruit slices and homemade jam (see previous post). It takes a bit of extra time in the morning, but its worth it, this baby can carry you through the day if need be.

***Oma's tip for this recipe: Experiment with other ingredients like plantain (so good), arugula, garlic scapes, goat cheese and roasted beets, and you get married now!

fin.

Diane and Frank Pizza

You will never want to eat another pizza again in your life, I promise you. I want Diane (one half of the pizza's namesake) to know that she has ruined me for life ... no other pizza can compare. The first time I had this pizza was at Diane and Frank's house in Edmonton at Christmas time. They invited us over for lunch and drinks - we had no idea what we were in for! Not only were we introduced to this delicious, traditional Italian, thin-crust pizza - but we were introduced to Campari (don't even get me started) and to a home with a couch in the kitchen and cool vintage men's ties hanging on the wall (not to mention Diane's own amazing hooked and beaded art). The pizza was served while we sat on the couch and enjoyed our drinks, one piece each until the pizza was finished and then a new pizza arrived and the process would start all over again. Now, this lunch has become one of the things I look forward to most when going home to Edmonton during the holidays. This year, Diane and Frank gave each of us our own pizza pans, olive oil, and specialty salt and pepper so we would be able to recreate this recipe on our own. We have yet to make them as perfectly crisp and tangy as Diane and Frank do, but this New Years Eve we came pretty close ...

us - full and tipsy at Frank and Diane's (they are on the far left)

Ingredients (the recipe is for 2 pizzas from one dough - half or double or triple as needed)

• 1 pizza dough (this will make two pizzas and will serve between two and three people, I have no problem eating a whole pizza to myself, and no shame as well apparently) - you can make your own dough (I don't because Diane doesn't and I do whatever she does) - or you can buy some from Toninas Deli & Cafe on Main Street in Vancouver or from a variety of other places. My experience has so far been that most doughs are of relatively equal weight. The dough can be refrigerated or frozen before hand but should be left to reach room temperature before using. The more the dough rises the fluffier the pizza crust will be, I like mine as thin and crispy as possible and I have found that a very fresh still slightly unrisen dough seems to do the job best.

For the Sauce:

• 7 or 8 campari tomatoes (small round plum tomatoes)*
• 2 roma tomatoes*
• handful of fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
• 4 cloves minced garlic (or more, I think this might be the key to the tanginess)
• a few tablespoons of olive oil
• a few grinds of grey salt
• a few grinds of tellicherry pepper

* Campari tomatoes are smaller than normal tomatoes but a little larger than strawberry tomatoes - sometimes I have a hard time finding them at my local green grocer. In the event that you cannot find camparis, or if the romas do not look tasty just use any tomato combination you can find - we have made these with many different kinds. The key, according to Diane, is that the camparis are a little softer and juicier while the romas are meatier and drier - the combination of the two makes for a sauce that is not too wet (which will sog up your pizza - don't let this happen) and that has delightful larger tomato pieces throughout.

To top the pizza:

• 6-7 fresh medium sized boccoccini balls (or 3 large balls) or 12-14 tiny balls 
• fresh basil leaves

Do it

So, I believe deep down in my pizza loving heart that the reason this pizza is so good is because it is so hands on - please do not be tempted to make the sauce using any electronic device; no blenders, food processors, or potato mashers allowed.

• preheat the oven to 500 C  - this is hot, but it may be the most important part of the recipe. We don't have a hood vent at our house and we haven't had a problem yet.
• in a large bowl, squish each tomato (whole, seeds and peel) between your fingers until it cannot be squished anymore (the roma is a tough one, and some inch sized tomato pieces are great in the sauce, so there is no need to pulverize)
• add the minced garlic and squish again
• add the olive oil, salt, and pepper and squish again - now taste - is it tangy and tomatoey and a little salty? no? add more salt, garlic, and pepper
• mix in the torn basil leaves

• grease two pizza pans with a little olive oil
• cut the dough in half and start spreading the dough to the edges of each pan. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the dough and that it is not so transparent that you can see the bottom of the pan. If you make a hole, just pinch the dough together and try it again. An evenly spread, very thin dough with only a little extra at the edges will make for the best pizza. 
• now spread some of the sauce on each pizza, you don't want a lot of sauce, just enough to cover most of the pizza (but the dough should be visible under the sauce) - it should look like chunks of tomato and pieces of basil in a very light pink sauce over the dough. 
• put one pizza on a lower rack in the oven and one pizza on the rack above (both somewhat in the middle) - bake for 5 minutes and then switch the pizzas and bake for another 5 minutes. The pizza should be browned on the edges and there should not be much if any liquid floating around on the dough. 
• top the pizza with cheese - sparingly, it should not be white, but just polka dotted with slices of creamy cheese
• return to the oven - choose which pizza goes where - and bake for another 5 minutes (I usually only leave them in for about 3)
• remove from oven, drizzle a little of the uncooked tomato sauce over the pizza if you like and cover with fresh basil. Drizzle olive oil over the edge of the crust.
• slice it up

enjoy with some red wine and a dance or two ...

photos courtesy of shammy and crammy

 

spring vegetable soup - in february

I made this back in October, which wasn't spring either I guess, but it was great ... and I bet it would be even better in the actual spring when all these vegetables are shooting out of the ground like rockets ... the actual recipe is so easy I am not even sure if it merits a post, you could pretty much add any sort of vegetable to it - in fact, the only thing that makes this soup fancy in the least is the addition of mint and egg noodles ... you know, maybe the only reason I have posted this recipe is to show off my future mother-in-law's rug hooking skills, would you look at those flowers? hacha 

ingredients

soup base

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, diced coarse
• 2 medium carrots, diced coarse
• 2 small ribs celery (leaves are always nice), diced coarse
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 5-6 cups of vegetable broth

spring soup

• 3 medium new potatoes, diced coarse
• 1 cup (or 1 1/2 cups if you like them a lot) green peas, fresh or frozen
• 1 bunch of thin new asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup egg noodles
• 1 cup of packed fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, minced

do it

heat the oil in a large pot. add the onions, carrots, and celery and saute until the vegetables begin to soften (around 5 mins). add the garlic and mix that around until you can smell it (around 1 min). now add some vegetable broth - how much? It is not an exact amount - I think five or six cups should do it? 

when all of this comes to a boil turn down the heat so the soup is simmering and add the potatoes and cook for an additional 5 or 6 minutes. now add the egg noodles and the asparagus. cook for another 5 minutes and then add the peas.  now you add the spinach and allow the soup to simmer for another 3 minutes or so ... now stir in the mint ... taste a potato - is it done? if so, the soup is too

the recipe wants you to let the soup stand for 2 hours to allow the flavours to blend, but we ate it right out of the pot piping hot with giant spoons

From: Cook's Illustrated, September 01, 1992

in a dance trance