Remembrance of Moosewood
Recipe: Cauliflower Cheese Soup
The vegetarian collective based in Ithaca gave birth to a popular cookbook and launched the career of Molly Katzen back in the 1970s, yet despite changing times, the soup remains the same
By Louise Crosby
There was a time in my life when I lived with friends in an old farmhouse in the country, with chickens in the yard, a big vegetable garden, and lots of cats. During the week, we drove into the city for jobs or school, but come the weekend, we were back-to-the-landers in plaid shirts and work boots, often congregating in the big homey kitchen at some point in the day to cook a communal meal. A rosy picture, I know, but those are my memories. Our little hippie commune worked out pretty well for awhile.
We were all interested in healthy food, and made a lot of beans and brown rice. Unlike now, when new and wonderful cookbooks come out every day, there weren’t as many recipe books to choose from. I mostly remember the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, ...
Soothe your soul with Sweet Potato
Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey, Espelette & Lime Yogurt
The world may be falling to pieces and suffering from the DTs, but there's hope and healing in a dose of sweet potatoes: they're a comfort food, super, too
By Louise Crosby
(November 15, 2016) It seemed strange, in the past week, to be testing a recipe for sweet potatoes as 'DT' became leader of the free world and Leonard Cohen bid us farewell. The world is a much more worrisome place this week, but we have to hold on to the life we believe in, no matter how mundane, and move forward. So there you go: sweet potatoes.
As you probably already know, these humble spuds are a super food, rich in vitamin A in the form of beta carotene. They are also a good source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, potassium, some of the B vitamins, and dietary fiber. Despite their sweetness, they are considered to be low on the glycemic index. So any which way we want to eat these tubers is a good idea.
T...
Coconut fish curry a Diwali delight
Recipe: Coconut Fish Curry
When the weather gets dark and stormy, a fragrant mix of coconut and curry straight out of Kerala will help you find the light with a burst of flavours
By Louise Crosby
(October 29, 2016) -- The sky is grey, the wind is raw and damp, and it’s cold. Winter seems suddenly upon us. But with a little imagination, and the right food, you can transport yourself to a place far away, where the air is warm and fragrant, and soft breezes blow through the coconut palms.
That’s where this Coconut Fish Curry, from Meera Sodha’s Made in India, comes in. Straight out of Kerala, on the southwest coast of India, it is a delicate and luxurious dish, full of onions, ginger, garlic and a touch of heat, brightened with fresh tomato, and mellowed with rich and creamy coconut milk. Served with basmati rice, a sprinkling of cilantro, and a squirt of lime, it will make you forget that it snowed last night.
Sodha’s recipe calls for fresh curry leaves and indeed, ...
Making the most of fall with Maple Shortbread
Food: Maple Shortbread Bar Recipe
The arrival of cool weather and woolly sweaters offers the perfect excuse to make a maple-based dessert featuring rich and gooey pecan filling over a shortbread base
By Louise Crosby
Well, here it is Thanksgiving already and plans are underway for a family get-together, not at the cottage on Lac Sam, in the Gatineau hills, where we often go for one last look at the lake and splendid fall colours, but here in the city, at my sister’s house, where a huge swing set has just been erected in the back yard for all the young ones to play on. (How’s that for an opening sentence?)
My contribution to our pot-luck feast is a vegetable dish to be determined, and a dessert. I did buy two small pie pumpkins a week ago thinking I’d make pies, but this being a busy time of year, when boilers need replacing, windows need washing, and the garden needs tidying, I’m considering alternatives. I’ll make something with those pumpkins when things settle ...
Feeding the mind with a good book and a head of cabbage
Recipe: Red Split Lentils with Cabbage
Cabbage may not get the same respect as other 'it-legumes' such as kale and continental chard, but the humble head is a superfood, too, and cooked up with split red lentils, it's an easy way to stew goodness
By Louise Crosby
One thing I’ve come to appreciate since retiring from the workforce two years ago is the Ottawa Public Library, or the OPL. What a resource. What I most love is the option to reserve, to get in line for a particular publication. It may seem dispiriting to be number 143 in the line-up, but things move quickly and before you know it, the book is yours for three whole weeks. Free! It does happen that books become available all at once, in a big wave, and there’s no way you can read them all in the allotted time, but life is like that and you just get back in line again.
What books am I reading? I just started The Edge of the Empire: A Journey to Britannia, in which the author, Bronwen Riley, takes us on a trip from ...
Tahini Shortbread opens sesame
Recipe: Tahini Shortbread Cookies
The pale, nutty paste is a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine, but tahini's smooth, creamy consistency also makes for a dreamy cookie full of good stuff
By Louise Crosby
Here on this side of the Atlantic, we know tahini best as an ingredient in hummus and baba ghanoush, or as a sauce for falafel and shawarma sandwiches. But in countries of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and beyond, this lovely stuff has been a staple for thousands of years, an indispensable ingredient in countless dishes savoury and sweet. They even put it on ice cream.
Just to refresh, tahini is pure sesame paste made from white sesame seeds that are soaked, then hulled, gently roasted, and ground to a silky smooth, creamy consistency. The paste, blended with garlic, lemon juice, salt and cumin, and thinned with a bit of water, becomes tahini sauce, also used in countless ways. The best sesame seeds come from the Humera region of Ethiopia, and the best tahini is emulsif...
Packing your pestle for a perfect pesto
Recipe: Pesto
A simple but wonderful thing awaits when you gather pine nuts, parmigiano and your best olive oil into a mortar and start pounding, or in Italian: pestare!
By Louise Crosby
It’s one of the many rituals of summer, like going for ice cream on a warm evening, or eating watermelon at a cottage. When bundles of local basil start appearing, it’s time to gather up the pine nuts, some new garlic and Parmigiano, and your best olive oil, and whizz it all together into a sauce. It’s a simple but wonderful thing.
Classic pesto originated in Liguria, the northern coastal region of Italy that includes the city of Genoa. It is traditionally prepared using a mortar and pestle, as the pounding is believed to bring out the full flavour of the basil. (The word “pesto” comes from the Italian verb pestare, to grind or crush.) It is also traditionally tossed with trenette, a long slender noodle, as well as cooked string beans and sliced small potatoes. This recipe, tweaked ...
Summer cobbler takes the cake
Recipe: Brown Butter Nectarine Cobbler/Cake
Part cobbler, part cake, part pudding, a bit crispy around the edges and juicy in the middle, this rustic dish is just as delicious for breakfast as it is for dessert
By Louise Crosby
My refrigerator is bursting at the seams. It’s summer, and after waiting so many months, locally-grown fruits and vegetables are finally ripening. I can’t help myself – it all tastes so much better than produce that’s been shipped in – so a trip to the farmers market requires a carry cart to lug it home in. Trouble is, I don’t know how we’re going to eat it all.
Let’s tally it up. Along with all the other stuff one keeps in one’s fridge, there’s a huge bundle of chard and another of basil, a bulging cauliflower, a bag of green beans, six pints of BC blueberries (on sale) and half a dozen ears of sweet corn. Meanwhile, taking up counter space, is a three-litre basket of ripe field tomatoes and another basket of ripe Niagara peaches....
Whatsa Masala? Chicken Tikka loses the sauce
Food Recipe: Chicken Tikka
Indian cuisine knows how to handle the heat, and grilled chunks of ginger-marinated chicken bathed in a cool yogurt chutney makes a perfect summer treat
By Louise Crosby
As you will know if you like Asian food, Chicken tikka masala is one of the most popular items on Indian restaurant menus, grilled chunks of meat that have been marinated in yogurt and spices, garlic and ginger, then baked in a clay oven (tandoor) and bathed in a creamy, spicy tomato sauce.
Chicken tikka, without the masala sauce, is another version of this dish, just the yogurt-marinated meat grilled or baked in the oven, if a tandoor isn’t available, and served with various chutneys. That is how Meera Sodha presents it in her book Made in India: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen, and that is what I offer you today, with a few minor tweaks.
Obviously if you aren’t fond of hot food, cut back or eliminate altogether the fresh or dried chili. But spicy hot or not, Sodha’s ...
Vanilla is exotic, the proof is in the pudding
Food Recipe: Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding
These days, when people say 'vanilla' they often mean boring, but the Mexican orchid flower responsible for the long, fragrant bean is anything but average -- and the same goes for this vanilla bean rice pudding
By Louise Crosby
This is turning out to be the summer of vanilla rice pudding. I’ve made this recipe – from food blogger Molly Wizenberg featured in bon appétit magazine – three times in the past two weeks, and as I write these words, another batch is burbling away on the stove. Eaten warm or icy cold from the refrigerator, it is rich and creamy and bursting with vanilla flavour, and we can’t get enough of it.
I’ve made the pudding twice with a vanilla bean and once with a generous tablespoon of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla bean paste, which makes an excellent substitute if your store runs out of beans. I also threw in a fat cinnamon stick during the cooking of the last batch, making the flavours even more ...
