Scalloped Potatoes

There are few things I love more than potatoes. I think that's the Albertan in me. I have a special fondness in my little heart for those bad boys.

It's been a long time since I've lived in Calgary, Alberta. In that time I've developed a raging affinity for other foods: pasta, polenta, homemade tomato sauce, chicken liver pate, cheese, wine. In fact, I often think my food-soul is Italian. 

And I have mostly managed to shake a lot of the Albertanisms that make me think of it as "little Texas" - big money, greed, Budweiser, big oil guzzling trucks, saying "get 'er done". Not that there is anything wrong with Alberta or Texas in and of themselves - I'm just a little more West coast than that. Or as the people I work with often refer to me, a little more social-communist. And I'm okay with that. I like shopping vintage thrift and up-cycling material goods. Smart cars are an excellent way to get around the city. And sauntering from one place to another, taking time to smell the flowers and breathe the air and watch the birds and lay on the beach all while being protected by universal medicine is A-okay with me.

But try as I might - potatoes linger both in my mind and judging by the popularity of the Paleo diet, my hips too, apparently.  Smother 'em in cheesy, creamy goodness and I've got the best of all worlds.

So while Italian may be my food-soul, potatoes are my soul-food. They remind me that I stem from a meat and potatoes kinda place. Filled with big trucks, oil money and bad beer. So I hold them dear and close to my heart. That and country music.

Scalloped Potatoes

(printable recipe) - serves 4.

Ingredients:

Approx 3 Lb (6 medium sized) Yukon gold Potatoes, sliced very thinly (use a mandolin on thinnest setting).

1 Onion, peeled & sliced very thinly in the same way as the potatoes.

2 Garlic Cloves, minced.

1 or 2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme.

1 Bay Leaf.

2 1/2 C 2% Milk or Cream.

2 Tbsp Butter.

2 Tbsp Flour.

Pinch of Nutmeg.

1 1/2 C Gruyere Cheese, grated.

1/2 C Parmesan Cheese, grated.

Coarse Sea Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F & lightly grease a 9 X 9" baking dish.

Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter and melt until sizzling - add the flour and stir constantly until fragrant and just starting to change color. Remove from the heat and add the milk, stirring to ensure it doesn't curdle. Add the garlic, thyme, bay leaf, nutmeg and a generous helping of salt and pepper. Place back on heat and stir stir stir until the milk thickens. Remove from the heat and discard what's left of the thyme stem.

Ladle a little of the liquid into the prepared baking dish, followed by closely layered slices of potatoes so they overlap. Top with some of the grated Gruyere and another ladle full of the milk mixture. Repeat until the dish is full with 1/2" of headroom - you should end up with 3 - 4 layers of potatoes, finishing with the Parmesan cheese.

Cover with tin foil and place in the oven to bake for 50 - 60 minutes. Remove the cover and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and golden.

Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes before cutting into. 

Eat.

What's your background? What foods or lifestyle choices do you hold close to your heart? What makes you who you are? What do you hang on to? What do you let go of? Are there any other country fans in the house?

Salads Ain't Just Fo' Summer Yo!

There are plenty of splendid and flavorful ingredients that can be used to make some pretty stellar Winter ones. Who needs mass produced & globally shipped lettuce when you can use locally and organically grown kale? Mmmm-mmmm - Christmas Winter salads are a wee bit of yum, yes?

I know, I know.

I promise that every post I do here up until Christmas will not be Christmas related.

To be fair though, this dish really isn't about Christmas. It's about using your Winter veg up effectively and let's be honest: Sometimes it's friggin difficult to find a fresh way to use those beets. Or leafy greens.

There comes a point, in every CSA participant's box, when we think "for the love of all that is good and holy - if I get one more (insert bastard vegetable here), I'm going to kill myself!". For me, that's usually kohlrabi. For John, it's turnips. Thence this recipe.

The fact that this dish is white, green and red just happens to make it an excellent side to a holiday meal. I promise, it's not Christmas.

Beet Carpaccio & Massaged Kale Winter Salad

(printable recipe) - serves 2.

Ingredients for Salad:

6 Small Red Beets, scrubbed and well dried.

6 Small Golden Beets, scrubbed and well dried.

1 Bunch Kale.

6 Oz Goat Cheese, room temperature.

Handful of Sweet & Spicy Nuts.

Coarse Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

Ingredients for Dressing:

1/2 C Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

The Juice of 1 Orange.

1 Tbsp Good Quality Balsamic Vinegar.

Coarse Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place the golden beets in one roasting pan and the red beets in another. Drizzle both with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Cover and roast in the oven for 40 - 60 minutes, depending on the size and age of the beets. When a fork slides gently into the beet, they're done. Remove from the oven and set aside until you can touch them. Chop off the top, peel the skins off and discard and place beets in the fridge until cool.

Meanwhile: remove the stem/rib of the kale and then chop into thin sliced. Massage - yes, massage - until the kale becomes soft and edible. This can take a while so just plop down in front of the tv if you want and rub baby rub. Set aside.

Make the dressing: Dump all the ingredients into a mason jar and shake. Set aside.

Once the beets are cool, use your mandolin to slice them on the thinnest setting. Watch your fingers! You can do this with a knife but it will take longer and it will be difficult to be as consistent. Make sure you do all the golden ones before the red or you will discolor the delicate gold beets with purple.

Lay the red beets on a plate, slightly overlapping the edges until the plate is full. Slide gold slices so they lay just slightly under each red beet. 

In a bowl, dress the kale with some of the dressing and the goat cheese. Gently place on top of the beets and finish with some nuts.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Eat.

How do you feel about Winter salads? Have you ever massaged kale? What do you get in your CSA that makes your little heart happy? Angry? Confused?

Pickled Fennel with Orange

 Good morning sugar pops!

There are some traditions we could stand to lose - witch burning, paying for medical care, exclusively heterosexual marriage... 

But then there are some that we need to fervently grab onto. 

One of these, is preserving food.

It's something many of our parents, their parents, and their parents before that have done for centuries but in a pro-mass produced, anti-think consumer culture it seems to have fallen by the way side. After all, why would we go to all that trouble to collect an abundance of one particular food stuff, process it ourselves and make space to keep it in when the big chain grocery store down the street has everything we could possibly ever want or need? 

For me there are three reasons.

First, it's a well known fact that Vancouver Island has only about 3 days worth of food available to us, should all shipments cease due to natural or man made disaster. That's not very long. And when people get hungry, they get scary. It only makes good food sense to make sure we have our own back ups in case of emergency. And if you don't believe me, ask the folks at Doomsday Preppers.

source

Second, all that handy-dandy-ready food at the grocery store? Most of it's filled with shit you don't wanna eat. From GMO corn and soy, to artificial "natural" flavors and colors, to preservatives, to who the ef knows what else. Every action has an opposite and equal reaction. In other words, everything you eat effects how you feel, look, and do. What do you think those additives, fillers, replacements, etc... affect you?

And third, it's fucking fun. And if it isn't, it should be. Preserving food - whether it's curing, canning, pickling or otherwise - is a fundamental knowledge to our survival as a species. That's pretty neat. And the more we embrace that, the more bourbon soaked cherries we'll have for the year. Now that's fun.

For this week's recipe from another blog, I decided to opt less for boozy fruit and more for citrusy fennel - if for no other reason than because I got a shit ton of fennel from our CSA over the past 2 weeks. ¡DPM! Does - a Brooklyn based duo creating recipes from Clara's Abuelita  in Argentina - make a damned good batch of pickled fennel. So I'm sharing it with you...

Pickled Fennel with Orange
(printable recipe) - makes 1 500ml Jar.

Ingredients:

4 Medium Sized Bulbs of fennel, very thinly sliced (a mandoline is useful here).

1 Tsp Fine Sea Salt.

1 Orange for zest cut into thin strips.

6 Tbsp white wine vinegar.

6 Tbsp orange juice.

2 Tbsp sugar.

4 Whole black peppercorns, cracked.
A Couple Sprigs of Fennel Tops (optional).


What to Do:

Toss the sliced fennel in a shallow bowl with the salt. Let them stand for one hour.

Meanwhile, sterilize your jar(s), lid(s), and ring(s). You can do this in a water bath canner if you have one or if you don't just use a very deep wide stock pot with one of those old fashioned metal steamers laid out in the bottom. This will keep the jars off the bottom of the pot so they don't break. Fill the pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Using a pair of tongs with rubber bands wrapped around the ends to prevent slippage, carefully place the jars, lids and rings in the water in batches so they fit comfortably with 1 to 2" of water above the jars and boil/sterilize for about 15 minutes. Carefully lift jars, lids and rings out of the water and set aside on a clean, dry surface. Sterilized!

If any brine exists in the bowl after this time, drain and toss the slices with the orange zest. Pack them into a sterilized pint jar, placing a fennel sprig or two against the side of the jar is using.

In a saucepan, heat the vinegar, orange juice, sugar and peppercorns over medium high heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot liquid over the fennel, leaving 3/4" of head space at the top of the jar. 

Secure rims and lids on the jars and place back in the boiling water to ensure seal for 15 minutes. Carefully remove from the water and allow to set and cool to room temperature. You may hear a "ping" noise coming from the jars - this is an excellent sign. Once cool, check to make sure the rings have in fact sealed and refrigerate any that don't.

Those that are sealed can be stored for many weeks while any open jars should be used within a week or two.

Eat.

Do you know how to preserve food? How about small rodents? Do you think "preserving" this kind of knowledge is important?

 

This post is linked up with Cast Party Wednesday; Whole Foods Wednesday; Fresh Foods Blog Hop; Frugal Days Sustainable Ways; Full Plate Thursday; Keep It Real Thursday; Showcase Your Talent; Tastetastic Thursday; Wellness Weekends; Fresh Bites Friday; Foodie Friday; Carnival of Home Preserving.

Fish in a Pinch

So I'm in the process of making some serious life style changes.

I've cut back on alcohol significantly - much to the detriment of my mind's well being, I'm sure.

I'm eating less cheese. Again, how will my brain survive?!

I'm keeping serious track of what I'm eating, when I'm eating, and how I'm eating.

I'm moving. A lot. Thank YOU Jillian Michaels, strange yoga videos that I'm not quite sold on, and Gaiam TV.

For the past few years I've lived and breathed and ate local, small scale, organic, seasonal, pastured food. But I haven't been the least bit discriminating against calories or fat. This in combination with a sedentary student lifestyle = pants don't fit no more. Seriously. There's a collection of clothing (3/4ths of my closet) that is boxed up in the laundry room yearning for the day they can live again.

I'm by no means obese. Or unhealthy. I don't consider myself over weight. What I do consider myself, however, is blech. I feel lazy. I feel tired. I feel bored. I feel generally just plain shitty.

So what to do? Change some things. I'm not sayin' you won't find me mowin down on some of these or this or this - what I am saying, is I'm gonna eat less of those things, find more balance, and make a point of gearing toward a less ass-expanding life plan.

I want to be strong. I want to be active. I want to be powerful. I want to be nourished. I want to laugh more. I want more love. And more joy. I want to live smaller. I want to feel good. I want more of fish in a pinch.

Fish in a pinch was a quick but very healthy dish I threw together in about 30 minutes that utilized our CSA produce, fresh in season locally caught halibut, and a stellar powerhouse seed called quinoa (yup! it's a seed, not a grain). Good energy foods give me good energy..... at least until I cave and decide to whip up a batch of these. 

....is it just me or did all those "this" references contain bacon? Mmmmm bacon...

Fish in a Pinch:

pan seared Pacific halibut with cumin scented red quinoa, 

oven roasted tomatoes 

& Saanich Organics braising greens

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

2 6oz Halibut Fillets, pat dried & seasoned well with salt and pepper.

1 C Red Quinoa, well rinsed.

6 C Braising Greens (raw), roughly chopped.

1 Pint Cherry Tomatoes, halved.

5 Garlic Cloves, peeled.

2 Shallots, peeled and halved if large.

1 Tbsp Capers, rinsed.

1/4 C Kalamata Olives, roughly chopped.

2 C Chicken Stock or Water.

Juice of 1 Lemon.

Pinch of Cumin. 

1 Tbsp Fresh or Dried Italian Herbs.

2 Tbsp Blanched Almonds, toasted.

1 Batch Balsamic Reduction.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degree F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Place the tomatoes, garlic, and shallots on the paper, toss with a generous glug of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven for approx 30 minutes or until everything gets nice and tender. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring chicken stock or water to a boil in a medium sized sauce pan with the juice of half the lemon, 1/2 Tsp of olive oil and cumin. Once boiling, add the rinsed quinoa, stir, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove from the heat and let sit about 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Once the quinoa is sitting, heat a non stick pan over medium heat with half a cup of water in it. Once the water is very hot, add the greens. Cover, stirring occasionally, until greens are wilted and tender - approx. 7 minutes or so. If the water evaporates before the greens are done cooking, simply add more water. Once they're tender, remove the lid and allow excess moisture to cook away. Remove greens from the pan and set aside.

Wipe out the pan and add a couple Tbsp of olive oil. Place back on the burner and allow to heat thoroughly but not smoke. Add the fish to the pan (skin side down if you've left the skin on) and let it crisp up for about 3-5 minutes. Gently flip the fish and continue cooking a further 3-4 minutes until fish flakes but is still moist. Remove from the heat and place the fish on a plate or wire rack to rest for a couple minutes. Cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

As it rests, throw the greens back in the pan along with the tomato mixture, olives, capers and a little lemon juice. Heat through for about a minute. Plate, drizzle with a little good quality olive oil if you have it, about a Tbsp of the balsamic reduction & serve.

Eat.

What do you make for dinner in a pinch? Do you have go-to meals? What do you do that makes you feel good & healthy? What are your food weaknesses? What gives you strength?

This post is linked up with Whole Foods Wednesday; Cast Party Wednesday; Simple Lives Thursday; Full Plate Thursday; Tastetastic Thursday; Fight Back Friday; Foodie Friday; Slightly Indulgent Tuesday; The Hearth & Soul Blog Hop via The 21st Century Housewife; Tasty Tuesdays.

Roasted Rosemary Sunchokes + Giveaway!

Good morning lovelies!

I hit 100 followers yesterday on my other blog, Gastronomical Sovereignty! And while I know that followers aren't everything, it sure makes you feel good when someone likes you (or at least your blog) enough to click and publicly display their virtual affection. It's the second best thing to comments.

So to celebrate.... I have a giveaway that I'm sharing both here as well as on the other blog because hey! - I want you to get some cool shit. And lemme tell you, this is one sweet deal of a giveaway; not to mention cost some serious cheddar. Aye! 

So here's the deal. School is coming to an end for me. My immediate reaction to that is, "bring on the wine!"... However, I can't ship wine internationally. And so what's the next best thing after vino for sipping in the middle of the afternoon? Well... at the end of every term John gets me a "Floating Cloud" package from this incredible local spa called Silk Road - essentially, it's a one hour full body massage followed by a one hour facial followed by as much fresh brewed tea as I can possibly consume. This place is the shit. So I'm giving away: tea.... but not just any tea.

I'm giving away 9 incredibly diverse and flavourful different varieties (3 green; 3 black; 3 herbal) of their spectacular tea, each one supplying 7-10 cups per package:

A Scandanavian styled, Finnish made steeper/mug that is super fucking cool:

Some home baked chocolate chip cookies:

And of course... a little reading material. John has put together 10 copies of what could be called my very limited edition, very first cookbook ever. Happy Valentines Day to me, yo! And to you! I'll send you a copy along with the package.

So let's review: 9 types (63-90 cups!) of incredible tea, one amazing tea pot/mug, home baked mother ef'n chocolate chip cookies, and something to pass the time with - my first cookbook. Hellz yeah I did yo! 

To Enter: 

Simply click here and follow the directions!

This giveaway closes February 19th - so get your entries in! The winner will be announced on February 20th.

via magisso

...Okay, onto roasted sunchokes! Because really, who doesn't love roasted sunchokes?? 

Sunchokes - aka Jerusalem artichokes - are related to sunflowers! Funny looking gingeresque tubular little guys (tubular as in like a tube, not like TMNT "totally tubular dude!") taste sort of nutty yet sweet and can be prepared the same way you'd prepare a potato or eaten raw in a salad if you so desire. If eating raw make sure to give them a little lemon bath (lemon jc. and water) to make sure they don't discolor.

When buying, look for non-marked knobbles and store in your vegetable crisper for up to two weeks. If I were you, I'd leave the skin on when preparing because their knobbliness (is that a word?) is a bitch to get around. Just scrub well before cooking. 

Seriously! Try them! They're fantastic! And roasting them in the oven with a bit of garlic and rosemary (oooh! or duck fat!) makes a different yet scrumptious addition to any meal. Well, maybe not any meal. I find it hard to imagine that sunchokes would fare very well with these.

Roasted Rosemary Sunchokes

(printable recipe)

Ingredients: 

1 to 2 Lbs of Sunchokes, scrubbed clean, well dried, and chopped into 1" pieces.

5 Cloves Garlic, peeled.

2 Sprigs of Rosemary, finely chopped.

1 Lemon for Juice.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F.

In a baking pan or two, toss the sunchokes, garlic and rosemary with a Tbsp or two of olive oil, lemon juice, and season well with salt and pepper.

Arrange in a single layer in the pan(s) and roast in heated oven for 30-45 minutes or until desired tenderness is achieved.

Remove from the oven and serve.

Eat!

This post is linked up with Tasty Tuesdays; Slightly Indulgent Tuesday; Tuesday Talent Show; This Chick Cooks; Cast Party Wednesday; Simple Lives Thursday; Full Plate Thursday; Tastetastic Thursday; Fight Back Friday; The Gallery of Favorites via the 21st Century Housewife; Fresh Bites Friday; Seasonal Inspiration Saturday; Seasonal Celebration Sunday.

RPI: Mission Mango...

I know what you're thinking. I thought it too. Unfortunately, I lost this first challenge of Rock, Paper, Ingredient. Haydn's selection? Mango. Are you kidding me?? What on Earth is sustainable or healthy or happy about fuel-laden mangoes??! Those of you that follow Gastronomical Sovereignty (no, I won't mention my other blog in every single post...) will know that I eat - which is to live - by the season. Locally. Organically. Happily. So accepting this first challenge was actually a bit of a challenge for me.

I fought with my ethical stance on food and whether or not I was prepared to ditch my morals in the event that Haydn selected something that I ordinarily wouldn't have. After all, it's his blog too! Shouldn't we do some of the things he wants to do? Ultimately, I acquiesced to mangoes this week. But I'm vetoing any further unhappy produce. At least for myself and for future RPI assignments.

From now on, there are rules:

1. You do not talk about Rock, Paper, Ingredient.
2. You DO NOT talk, about Rock Paper Ingredient.

Hang on, wrong rules...

1. The ingredient selected by the winner of Rock, Paper, Ingredient must be locally (Pacific Northwest) in season and somehow accessible.
2. Refer to rule #1.

That being said... I rocked that shit. Mangoes are rad. I'm not sure I've actually even eaten a mango before but as of this week, I ate 3. And they were juicy, brilliant yellow in color, and a massive pain in the ass. Do you have any idea what a process it is to get the fruit off the little buggers? I googled it and figured it out but it took me a while. Aye.

The flesh of mango is delicately sweet, floral in scent, pliable, and moist. The juices trickled over my fingers, across my wrists, down my arms and onto the counter - I made quite a mess! Oh the succulence of it all!

Note to self: Enjoy it while the left-overs last, sister. No more mangoes for you!

Mangoes 2 Ways: Firely Lime Sauce & Tempura Sliced Mango

(printable recipe)

Ingredients for the Sauce:

2 Mangoes.

1 Lime for juice.

1 Bird's Eye Chili, thinly sliced (you may remove the seeds for less heat if desired).

1 Tbsp Ginger, peeled & finely grated.

1 Tbsp Local Organic Honey.

Ingredients for the Tempura:

1 Mango.

1 C All Purpose Flour.

1 Tsp Baking Powder.

1 C Iced Soda Water.

1 Free-Range Organic Egg.

2 to 3 C Vegetable Oil for frying.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

What to Do for the Sauce:

 To begin, remove the flesh of 2 of the mangoes. Mangoes come with very large seeds in the center which you can't cut through. Therefore you must cut away the "cheeks" (fleshy sides) of the mango, carefully dice/cube the flesh and peel it away from the skin.

Chuck the flesh into a food processor along with the ginger, lime juice, honey, and just a touch of salt and pepper. Puree until the mixture becomes soft and silky. Gently mix in the chili and set aside. Ta da!

As you can see from the photo, I served my mango with some pan-seared halibut. If you wish to do this, just pat your fish dry with some paper towel, and season well on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat a bit of oil and/or butter over medium heat in a frying pan, and once the butter starts to sizzle, gently place fish in the pan. Cook 3 - 4 minutes, flip, and continue cooking a further 3-4 minutes. Fish will be done if flaky and white. Remove from the heat and set fish on a surface, covered in foil, and let rest about 5 to 10 minutes. Top with some pea-shoots and a little green onion.

Otherwise, it would also work very well with chicken also or maybe some chick-pea patties.

Eat! (almost...)....

What to Do for the Tempura'd Mango:

As above, cube or slice the mango flesh from the cheeks. Set aside.

Pour your oil into a deep wok and heat over a medium-high setting. The oil is ready when a 1" cube of white bread dropped into the oil browns in 60 seconds; that oil temperature will be about 365 degrees F. Be careful to not heat too high and keep water away from the oil because water + oil = explosive disaster. Literally.

As the oil heats, mix together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, gently whisk the egg. Add the cold water and mix well. Throw in the flour mixture and stir to just barely combine. Do not over mix or  the starches in the flour will active and you'll end up with a very "doughy" tempura.

Lightly dredge the pieces of mango in the mixture and very carefully drop them into the hot oil. Always drop away from you (think of it like pushing the food away rather than pulling toward) to avoid splashing yourself with oil. Watch your fingers!

Allow to brown and crisp up, turning often to ensure even cooking. Once golden and crisp, remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and let drain on a side of paper towels. Serve immediately.

Eat!

This post is linked up with This Chick Cooks; Full Plate Thursday; Tasteastic Thursday; Tasty Tuesdays; Tuesday Talent Show.