After an annual trip to Costco, my fridge looked like it was going to explode at any second.  You had to precariously open the door, for fear of anything from oversized sauce jars to heads of broccoli falling on your unsuspecting foot.  Without even realizing what I’d done, a ginormous tray of sliced mushrooms kept pleading with me everytime I snuck in for a quick snack.  I do love a mushroom and I happened to be in the ball and realized I was overdue in my soup of the week, so I thought: let’s kill two birds with one stone (figuratively of course!!).  This resulted in a creamy, earthy soup that tasted even better as my warming lunch the next day.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 TBSP butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 TBSP olive oil

2 dozen crmini mushrooms, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups stock (your choice – as long as it’s rich and good!)

1 cup boiling water (you may use more or less, depending on the thickness you desire)

1 tsp sea or kosher salt (if your stock is super salty, use less)

1/3 cup 10% table cream

Pepper to taste

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DIRECTIONS:

1)      Bring a large pot to medium heat and sauté the onion in the butter and olive oil until just browned.

2)      Add into pot the garlic and mushrooms, and sauté until browned and softened (about 5-10 min).

3)      Pour stock, water and salt into pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 min (or until veg are very tender).

4)      Turn off heat and allow soup to cool slightly, then add in cream.

5)      Pour 3/4 of the contents into a blender, and blend until smooth (you can add in extra liquid if it’s too thick).

6)      Place puréed soup back in pot, add in pepper to taste and re-heat slightly (you do not want to burn the soup, so keep a close eye).

7)      Serve hot with crackers or bread!

Well there wasn’t meant to be any new arrivals here until we had the rat shed up and running, but it was hubby who agreed to take on these two so I can’t be in trouble over them!

He has recently been down the road to visit family and got a text from a friend of his asking if we’d like two more girly rats, as his daughter was having to re home hers, so of course hubby says yes!

They are two girls, about a year old, both dumbos, who hubby re-named Cheese and Onion. Cheese is the smaller, cheekier one of the two and is cinnamon I think. Onion is bigger, quieter and paler with red eyes, so I’m not sure what her actual colour is. They are both a wee bit snotty, so I’m keeping an eye on them and they’ve been treated for mites but seem to be settling in quite well.

I will get some photos of them shortly and I also have exciting news about the rat shed that i will blog about later!

I’m serious. And I can probably never recreate it because, in typical Meg fashion, I just threw a bunch of stuff in the crock pot and prayed that it turned out okay.

…but it was so much more than “okay”.

I used the leftover chicken from when I made Matzo Ball Soup. It’s been in the freezer, and there were still some onions and carrots in with the chicken. I shoved the whole hunk of frozen meat and veggies in the crock with a couple of bullion cubes, some red and green bell pepper, some more onion, some more carrots, some garlic, some peppercorns, and about 6 cups of water. I let it cook all day on low. When I got home from work, I cranked the crock up to high, added about 6 oz of egg noodles (from Jess), and let that go for about 30 more minutes. I also added a little salt and a lot of pepper at that point.

And it was SO. GOOD! I really didn’t know that chicken noodle soup could be this good! But it was. It. Was.

Have you ever made the perfect meal and forgot how you did it?

What was I thinking?  Well, I hate the way animals for food are treated and I’ve always felt kind of like a hypocrit not being a vegetarian.  Vegan would be better, but we’ll start with vegetarian.  And of course I decided this on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  I love turkey and turkey left overs.  And all that other meat and egg not so vegetarian friendly goodness.  But – I’m going to be strong!  So for at least the next 30 days, I’ll post my trials to say ‘No’ to meat. 

I’ve already started overhauling all the products my husband and I use to be cruelty free, so this is the next step.  We already eat vegetarian at home, and vegan a lot of the time, but never when I go out to eat.  Time to take it to the next level!

After watching videos on Peta.org, I decided to follow their link to pledge 30 days as a vegetarian.  Luckily my husband is pretty supportive, but has no desire to go vegetarian on his own.  He’ll eat vegetarian and vegan at home though.

So, since it was 7pm on Sunday night and I hadn’t planned any meals and didn’t go to the grocery store, I had to see what I had.  Luckily I had done a big shopping trip the previous week.  I pulled out some bulgur wheat (which I’d never cooked before), asparagus, onion, garlic (can I make a meal without it?), and mushrooms. 

1. Boil the bulgur wheat and then simmer for 15 minutes

2. Wash and cut asparagus, sprinkle with sea salt and olive oil 

3. Garlic sauted in olive oil and then add onions

4. add in the mushrooms

5. Take asparagus out of oven, cut up, add to bulgar wheat

6. Add garlic, mushrooms, and onion mix

7. Eat and enjoy!

Not too bad for my first meal.  Check out the photo below.

29 days left!

I love tortilla soup. I will order it just about anywhere, at any time of year, and I’ve been known to judge the entire menu of a restaurant solely on the quality of their sopa de tortilla. I’m obsessed in every sense of the word–and having not been able to find a version I deem delicious in Chicago, I learned how to make it.

This soup is very representative of a typical Mexican kitchen and uses the traditional flavors and textures of the tomato, chile, avocado, epazote and tortilla. I’ve never cared much for tomato-based soups or broths, but this soup converted me.

The secret, I’ve found, is adding a few crunchy little pieces of chicharrón (also known as pork rinds or cracklings here in the U.S.). They add a depth to the soup’s flavor that I’m convinced cannot be achieved otherwise. All of my favorite places in Mexico for tortilla soup serve it similarly; all the ingredients for assembling the soup are brought to the table separately and the waiter puts it together right in front of you, almost like a little show with your meal.

In a few weeks, the Tortilla will morph into a traveling food blog as I’ll be visiting Mexico City and will be posting photos and names of my favorite places for tortilla soup and other dishes in the Distrito Federal.

RECETA

• 4 large Roma tomatoes or 2 to 3 medium regular tomatoes
• 2 large, thick slices of white onion
• 4 medium cloves of garlic
• Basic chicken stock (see below)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 to 2 springs of epazote (optional)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

TOPPINGS

• 2 avocados, pitted and sliced or cubed
• 2 to 3 pasilla chiles
• A bit of either queso cotija (crumbled) or queso fresco (crumbled or cubed)
• Mexican crema de leche espesa, no azucarada
• A few small pieces of chicharrón
• A few squeezes of fresh lime juice (optional)

BASIC CHICKEN STOCK
There are two methods I use for making chicken stock, and which you choose will depend on how much time you’ve got. Slow cooking is preferred as it will have a much richer flavor, but the stovetop method works just fine if you’re short on time. I usually make the chicken stock the night before to cut down on prep time the day I want to eat the soup.

Crockpot method:
Slice 1 medium sized onion and place along bottom of 4 ½ quart-sized crock pot. Place one whole roaster chicken (either raw, or a precooked plain rotisserie chicken) on top of the onions and add enough water to cover most of the chicken. Set on high for about 8 hours. Cook until chicken easily falls from the bone with some gentle prodding from a fork.  (This can also be done overnight if you set the heat to low, and you can cook it for up to 12 hours without worry.) If you use a precooked rotisserie chicken, you probably will not need to add any salt; if you use a raw chicken you should use a good-sized pinch of sea or kosher salt.

Stovetop method:
In a large stock pot (4 quarts or bigger), place the sliced onion on the bottom, the chicken on top of the onion, and add enough water to cover the chicken. Heat over a high flame until it starts to come to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat for about one hour or until the breast meat is cooked through. Add a few teaspoons of sea or kosher salt.

Either way, the stock will be somewhat concentrated, but more so with the Crockpot method. If you slow-cooked the stock, you should use about 1 ½ cups of the concentrated stock added to 4 to 4 ½ cups of water to create a broth. If you cooked the stock on the stove, you may want to use 2 cups or slightly more of the stock added to 4 cups of water for the broth. You can reserve the rest of the stock and meat and use it for other soups or dishes if you wish. I usually just discard all the onions and reserve the leftovers for chilaquiles or a simple caldo de pollo.

THE SOUP
On a hot comal, roast the garlic, onion and tomatoes. When the tomato skin is slightly blistered and darkened, peel the skin off, core the tomatoes and gently remove the seeds. Be careful when peeling the skins, as the tomatoes will be very hot. The onion and garlic should be slightly charred.

Put the tomato, onion and garlic into a blender or a food processor and add about ¼ cup of chicken stock to moisten. Blend until completely smooth.

Heat the tablespoon of oil in a pot and pour the tomato mixture over it. Fry the puree on high for about two minutes and then reduce to medium heat, stirring for about 5 minutes or until the puree thickens and gets a little darker in color.

Add the chicken broth to the fried tomato mixture and add a little bit of salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Sometimes instead of adding salt, I add a little bit of Knorr caldo de tomate. If you opted to use epazote, you’ll want to add it to the pot before covering and remove it and discard after 15 minutes. If you plan to serve the soup later, just remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container.

FOR THE TORTILLA STRIPS
Using your favorite brand of corn tortillas, stack them four at a time and cut into thin strips (done most easily by using a pizza cutter). Then cut the strips in half.  Heat a little bit of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. When the oil is hot, put a handful of tortilla strips in at a time and fry until they are well done. This will take between 3-4 minutes and you will need to turn the strips over to fry both sides. Add more oil and wait for it to get hot as needed. Remove the tortilla strips and drain on a plate with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. (Note: if you use fresh, handmade tortillas, you should dry them out a bit by cooking in the oven at about 250 degrees F for 30-45 minutes to remove some of the moisture.)

Cut the chiles in small rings and remove the seeds. Fry them quickly (just a minute or two) in the leftover oil to bring out their flavor and slightly rehydrate them. Drain the excess oil on a paper towel.

TO ASSEMBLE THE SOUP WHEN SERVING
Ladle the soup into a shallow bowl and add a handful of tortilla strips in the middle. Add the avocado, a few chile rings, a dollop of the crema and a sprinkling of cheese. If desired, squeeze a little fresh lime juice into the broth. Add a few small pieces of crunchy chicharrón.

Yields 4-6 servings depending how generously you serve. Lasts about a week in the refrigerator or a little over month if you freeze the broth.

• How do you like your sopa de tortilla?
• What are your fond memories of this dish?

My family used to make this all the time. I think because there were 6 of us, so we could make 6 individual pizzas with 3 loaves of French bread. We all liked different toppings, so it worked out well! I haven’t made this in years, but a craving struck me recently, so I went for it.

So… I took a loaf of French bread and cut it in half length-wise. I put it in an oven preheated to 350 degrees and let it toast for about 12-15 minutes. I took it out and put some sauce on it (I used jarred sauce this time). I added a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. Then I covered it in red and green bell peppers, red onion, and mushrooms, then added another little bit of cheese.

I put it back in the oven until the cheese was all melty, maybe about 10 more minutes. Took it out and sliced it up. So good!

Is there something that your parents always made when you were little that you sometimes crave today?

If you are a novice in the kitchen and know enough cooking to boil water this recipe is for you. We are just going to assemble a few processed goodies and some vegetables and rice to make a wonderful meal.

Time Taken : About 40 Minutes

Serves: 2 Persons

Ingredients:
1 packet Chinese Manchurian Knorr make a meal
1 cube Maggi Chicken concentrate OR 1 cube Maggi Vegetable concentrate
2 Cups of Soya Chunks
1 small onion
1 small carrot
1/2 a  small  cabbage
1 small capsicum OR 2 Big green Chilies
2 spring onions
Some red OR green chili sauce
Some vinegar and green  chili  sauce
1 cup rice
salt
ghee

Method:

Wash the rice in cold water. Soak the rice for 20 minutes in cold water.Throw away the water used to soak the water.  Take 2 cups of water in a pan add the soaked  rice,  a pinch of  salt and a little ghee and cover the pan with a lid and boil the rice on Simmer setting of your gas burner till the rice is tender.( Do not stir the rice while it is cooking.The rice will be cooked by the time all the water is used up. )

Grate all the vegetables and mince the spring onions. Put the spring onions aside.Take a wok add a little ghee and sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add 3 cups of water to the vegetables. Add the chinese Knorr Manchurian make a meal mixture and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.
In a little water boil the chicken cube or the vegetable cube ( as per your taste) and set aside.
Boil 4 cups of water in a pan add 1/4 tea-spoon salt and add 2 cups of Soya chunks and boil for 10 minutes. Use a strainer to get rid of the water used to boil the Soya chunks and to wash them in cold fresh water. Squeeze out the excess water.Put some ghee in a wok and fry the Soya chunks till they are a little brown. Add the boiled chicken or vegetable concentrate to the wok and bring to boil till the chunks absorb the concentrate a little and add the mixture of Soya chunks and concentrate to the Manchurian sauce.Garnish with the minced spring onions.

Your meal is ready. Use the chili  sauce as per your taste.

COOK IT UP A RECIPE WEB SITE

I love this meal – it takes along time to cook and tastes incredible.  It actually improves with time so that on day 3, the flavor is better.  I’ll make it on a Sunday, put it in the fridge, then eat it on Wednesday. This is my first shot at reducing the serving size.  Generally it was pretty damn good except too salty.  I left notes about future changes as I perfect the recipe for 1-2 servings.

TIME
I started about 11am and had the casserole in the oven by noon.  That includes prep and the initial cooking.  The casserole then cooked in the oven for 3 hours.  Prepping and preparing the final veggies was 15 minutes.

INGREDIENTS (shopping for the ingredients)

• 2 oz bacon (I did 2 slices but it should be 3)
• 1/2 lb beef stew meat (*don’t* use lean meat)
• 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 tsp flour (I used all purpose)
• 1/4 tsp pepper (I use tellicherry)
• 1 tsp salt (way too much, 1/4 next time) – I use Baleine fine sea salt.
• 1 cup young red wine (should have been 1.5 cups) – I used a pinot noir
• 1 cup beef stock (should have been 1.5 cups)
• 1.5 tsp tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, mashed
• 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (try upping to 1 tsp)
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 4 oz pearl onions
• 2 oz chanterelles mushrooms (I used crimini but a wild chanterelle is better)
• 3/4 tsp butter (up to 1 tsp next time)
• parsley sprig for garnish

PREP (about 15 minutes)
I chopped the bacon into ½” wide slices down the length of the bacon.   Next I chopped the onions pretty casually because I know they’re going to get dissolved in the cooking, so why be pretty?  Then I dice half the carrot –it’ll bake in the stew.  I’ll add the other half of the carrot toward the end of the recipe so it’ll have a crispiness.  Finally, I chop the beef stew meat into 1” cubes – nothing perfect because these suckers are going to melt away.  Just want to have a size that is edible in a bite.  I rinse off any blood and then dry the meat with paper towels so that they don’t have a watery sheen.  That helps the meat to brown better.  I mash the garlic clove.  Finally, I finely chop the rosemary.
I’m going to wait to do the mushrooms and pearl onions until later because it’ll be hours before I add them.

COOKING (about 45 minutes)
I’m going to try browning the beef by putting it in the oven.  Usually, I brown it on the stovetop.  So, I preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  I cook the bacon in the casserole pan on medium until it starts to brown – about 10-12 minutes.  I occasionally stir to make sure the bacon doesn’t crisp on one side.  I’m getting the oil fat out of the bacon without crisp frying it.  Oh, that smells good.
I remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, shaking off the bacon fat so it stays in the pan and not on the bacon.  I turn up the heat to medium high and when the bacon fat is just smoking, I brown the beef on all sides, a few pieces at a time.  Don’t put them all in at once – leaving space allows for better browning.  I remove the pieces to a plate as they are cooked.
Turns out I don’t have enough fat left over to cook the vegetables, so I add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the now empty pot, reduce heat to medium and sauté the veggies until wilted – 3-5 minutes – stirring occasionally to keep them from burning.
Then comes the ‘oops’.  I return the beef and bacon to the pan without taking out the veggies.  I meant to take out the veggies and put them aside while I bake the floured meats.  Anyhow, let’s see how it goes with the ‘oops’.
I add the salt, pepper and flour to the whole shebang, toss to coat it and then stick it in the oven, uncovered, on the middle rack, for 4 minutes.   I stir the veggies and meats around a bit and then return the casserole to the oven for another 4 minutes.
I take out the casserole and turn the oven down to 325 degrees.  The meat looks shiny, likes there’s a glaze on it.
Next: the wet part.  I add the tomato paste, rosemary, wine and beef broth.  The point is to cover the meat in wet, so if your meat is not covered (probably your pan is wider than mine), then add more broth.  Bring to a boil, cover and then put in the bottom third of the oven.    Ouch!  I burned myself moving the oven racks around…I think its time to drink the rest of the wine.

OVEN TIME
After 1 hour, I take a look at the casserole and it looks like its cooking down too quickly so I turn the temperature down to 275.
After 2 ½ hours, I look at the casserole again and the liquid has all but reduced to a goo.  I’m hungry (the smell is amazing) so I take a bite.  The flavor is intense – almost too intense.  Also, the beef is not quite done enough for my tastes.  So, I deglaze the pan:  I put the casserole back on the stove, add one cup of broth and scrape the bottom for all the goodies, bring the liquid to a boil without the cover (meanwhile scraping some more), then return the covered casserole to the oven again.
The casserole is in the oven for 3-4 hours until the meat falls apart.  You can tell when a fork can easily pierce the beef.  The slow cooking is what makes the connective tissue in the meat fall apart, so be patient.

STRAINING
To strain or not to strain – that is the question.  So, I’m doing an experiment where I split the casserole in half once its out of the oven.  One part I will strain and the other I won’t.  I hear the taste of the unstrained casserole will have a greasy taste.
To Strain: I separate the liquid from the solids by pouring the ingredients through a strainer and into a sauté pan.  I carefully scrape off the fat.  There wasn’t much fat so I let the liquid cool in order to separate the fat from the liquid.  That didn’t produce much.  So, I simmered the liquid to see if the fat rose to the top.  Not much.
My opinion – it wasn’t worth the time and energy.   There was a little less visible fat but not enough to change the taste.  I’ll skip the straining in the future.

PREPARING THE VEGGIES (15 minutes)
Next I cook the final veggies.  I boil the julienned carrots and pearl onions together for about 6 minutes.  Meanwhile I sauté the mushrooms in butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  I like to cook them enough so that the water in them evaporates – you get a more intense mushroom flavor.  I put the onions and carrots into a strainer and run cold water over them for a minute or so to cool them down.  Then I add them to the casserole, stirring them in over medium heat for about 5 minutes to warm them up.

DINING
The casserole is a beautiful velvety stew with meat that falls apart and a really intense flavor.  A little too salty but I’ll fix that next time.  I sat down at the table with a glass of the same pinot noir with which I cooked.   A baguette soaked up the sauce so nothing was left.  I add a little parsley to complete the visuals.  Perfect.

ALTERNATIVES

• Carrots sauteed in butter as a side dish instead of adding them at the end.
• Rice or mashed potatoes instead of a baguette

LEARNINGS

• Reduce salt to 1/4 tsp
• Add a 3rd slice of bacon to recipe
• Add about a cup more liquid from the beginning?
• Cook at 275 instead of 325 the whole time
• Deglaze at some point, probably around 1 ½ – 2 hours
• Only needs to cook 2-3 hours
• Don’t need to strain

Thoughts for format/layout:

I think I may need a different format going forward a la Cooks magazine – here’s what I did, here’s the outcome and here’s the best ‘Dine for One’ approach.  Need to figure out how to add this ingredients list as a side column as well as something that can be printed.

You know the story about stone soup, right?

Well, we’ve been doing a similar thing in our department at work. Well, the everybody-bring-an-ingredient part.

This week, my boss had a roast and an onion, I had potatoes and carrots, and our secretary had bread and the makings of an apple pie.

What does that make?

Lunch from the crock pot (the pie didn’t go in, of course)!

Now, I know that this isn’t the most attractive picture ever, but I promise that once I put that tender roast on a sandwich and took a bite, all was forgotten.

American Cheeseburger

1 pkg. The Turkey Store Lean Ground

1/3 cup catsup

3 tablespoons seasoned dry bread crumbs

2 tablespoon grated or finely chopped onion

1 large egg

½ teaspoon garlic salt

¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper

4 slices (1/4 inch) red or yellow onion

Cooking oil

2 slices cheddar cheese

4 kaiser rolls or bakery-style hamburger buns, split

4 slices tomato

4 leaves romaine or red leaf lettuce

Optional condiments:  mayonnaise, catsup, mustard slice pickles

In a large bowl, combine turkey, catsup, bread crumbs, egg, garlic salt and pepper.  Mix well and shape into 4 patties about ½-inch thick.  Cover and refrigerate while preparing charcoal grill.  Coat patties and onion slices with cooking spray.  Grill patties and onions over medium coals 6 to 7 minutes per side or until no longer pink in center.  Top patties with cheese during last minute of grilling.  Place rolls, cut side down on grill during last 1 to 2 minutes of cooking to toast lightly.  Serve patties in rolls topped with grilled onions, tomato and lettuce.  Serve with desire condiments.  Makes 4 servings.

Woman cannot live by sandwich and coffee alone.  Tonight it was time for a hearty, plain soup with lots of garlic and curly green kale.  Recipe is adapted from The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters.  The recipe makes 4-6 servings (2 quarts).

• Remove the tough stems from the leaves of 1 bunch of kale.  Wash, drain well, and coarsely chop it.
• Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a heavy soup pot.
• Add 2 onions, sliced very thin.  Cook them over medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft, tender, and slightly browned – about 12 minutes.
• While the onions are cooking, peel and chop 1 pound of potatoes (Yellow Finn or Yukon Gold) into small chunks.
• When the onions are cooked, stir in 4 garlic cloves, chopped.  Cook the garlic with the onions for a minute or two, then stir in the potatoes  and kale.  Add a healthy shaking or pinch of salt.
• Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add 6 cups of chicken broth.  Raise the heat, bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until kale and potatoes are tender.  Taste the soup and add more salt if necessary.
• Waters suggests garnishing with a little grated parmesan.  I threw in the rind of a hunk of parmesan when I added the broth to give a nutty flavor to the soup, a trick learned from making minestrone.

You can, of course, easily substitute vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian soup, hence the “vegetarian” tag.  White beans could supplement or replace potatoes.  Carnivores, if you wanted to throw some of your leftover holiday ham in here and use the bone to flavor the broth, you would not be wrong.  You could also think about browning some spicy garlic sausage or linguica and adding when you add the kale, but don’t think that you need to do that, because the soup is miraculous on its own.

A staple meal in our house.  The recipe varies a little each time I make it but this is tonight’s recipe!  There’s not much to say about it really, it’s a simple warm filling year round meal. 

Serves 4 (with enough for seconds ;o) )

750g minced beef
6 thick cheap pork sausages
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
herbes de provence
2×400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp ketchup
~200g mushrooms, sliced

- In a large bowl mix together the minced beef the insides of the sausages (discard the skins), half the onion and 1 of the cloves of garlic along with 2 tbsp herbes de provence and salt and pepper to taste.  Get in there with you hands!
- Shape the mixture into balls with your hands and place them on a floured plate or chopping board. 
- Lightly dust with flour and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes, preferably in the fridge. 
- In a very large deep frying pan brown the meatballs, in batches if necessary. 
- Once browned on both sides tip in the tinned tomatoes with a quarter of a can of water.  Add the tomato puree, ketchup and mushrooms as well as another tbsp of herbes de provence. 
- Gently stir the sauce to mix in the space between the meatballs and poke the mushrooms down into the liquid. 
- Put on a lid and leave for 15 minutes until the sauce is bubbling. 
- Take the lid off and  continue to simmer for another 45 minutes on a gentle heat stirring occasionally. 
- Serve on top of spaghetti all covered in cheese!

Ingredients

8 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from a 1-lb white loaf with crust removed)

4 cups coarsely crumbled corn bread

¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 stick unsalted butter

2 medium onions, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)

½ package baby Bella mushrooms, finely chopped

3 cups finely chopped celery

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup turkey giblet stock or low-sodium chicken broth

½ cup heavy cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Spread all breadcrumbs in 2 shallow baking pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven until dry, about 15 minutes total. Cool crumbs in pans on racks, then transfer to a large bowl and stir in parsley, sage, salt, and pepper.

Melt butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, and add onions; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Then add mushrooms and celery, cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to bowl with crumbs and toss well. Add eggs, stock, and cream and toss well.

Transfer stuffing to a buttered 2 1/2- to 3-quart shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, in middle of oven 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.

Cooks’ notes

Stuffing can be assembled (but not baked) 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before baking.

Definitely only use fresh herbs and feel free to increase quantity (use the recipe only as guide). Also, other herbs such a thyme and rosemary are a great addition.

Roasted chestnuts are also a nice addition to this mix.

~ Courtesy of Gourmet Magazine, originally published November 1975

I’m a guest writer on Rasa Malaysia! It’s one of the most comprehensive and wonderful food sites on East Asian food there is. Needless to say, I’m beyond thrilled!

There I was dreading the inevitable demise of yet another weekend when I received an unexpected message. It was Bee of the amazing Rasa Malaysia asking if I’d like to write a guest post for her wonderful blog. Oh my! Are potatoes my favourite vegetable? (Or something else to which the answer is a more obvious YES!) What an honour! After a quick discussion, we decided my post would be on kababs.

Kababs were the way I first ate any meat as a child. Not because that’s how my mom wanted it, but because up to that point I had steadfastly refused to eat meat. The smoky flavours and spicy one-bite poppers were what convinced me to try my first chicken tikka. (This was tikka as a kabab, simply unadorned & roasted meat, without any of the gravy that makes it chicken tikka masala), I was hooked from the first bite and have never looked back. I grew from strength to strength with lamb botis and mutton seekh. A smorgasbord of kababs that then taught me to enjoy meat in other forms.

Read the rest of the post at Rasa Malaysia!

I grew onions. Yes. Oh, onions AND leeks. How cool is that? And lots! I had no idea I would have more onions than I knew what to do with, because I love onions and I love cooking and well most savoury dishes use onions. I also grew way too many chile peppers (an experiment from seed) but that’s completely irrelevant to this post.

I suppose before I continue I should apologize for my absence. Well, to myself more than anyone else, I’m not sure if anyone follows this (YET – positive thinking).

Anyway, check out these bad-ass onions.

So, I thought what better way to feature these bad-ass onions? French Onion Soup? Why not? I’d only had it once, years ago, and it sounded really nice. And then I thought “who would be a good reference for this dish?”. Well Julia Child of course. I had some beef stock I’d made and Sarah was home, we had the night to ourselves, it was set.

I did something I never do. I followed the recipe. Almost. But its the closest I’ve come. I guesstimated the amount of onions and butter I was using, only because I forgot to measure. After that it was Julia Child’s recipe. Oh, I also used brandy instead of cognac. But that’s the only other change.

And yes – the soup was amazing. Incredibly filling, incredibly good. This was magnified by the fact that I had cultured these onions in my own backyard and made the beefstock myself from scratch. In the end the soup had my name all over it, even if I used Julia Child’s recipe, and it was very satisfying.

Soupe à L’Oignon

(Julia Child)

(*Disclaimer: This soup is not a starter, it is a meal – we made the mistake of eating it after a small meal and were pinned to the couch unwillingly after. You’ve been warned.)

about 5 cups of thinly sliced yellow onions (I used a combination of leeks, red and Vidalia onions)
3 Tb butter
1 Tb oil
1 tsp salt
1\4 tsp sugar
3 Tb flour
2 quarts boiling brown stock
1\2 cup dry white wine
3 Tb cognac
Rounds of hard toasted baguette
grated Swiss cheese
s + p

1. Cook the onions slowly (after slicing them very quickly!) with the butter and oil in the pan, covered, for 15 minutes
2. Uncover, raise heat to moderate, and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook until the onions have turned dark golden brown, stirring frequently. Can take anywhere from 30mins to an hour.
3. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 3 minutes. (I think I even stirred for 3 minutes)
4. Off the heat, blend in the boiling liquid. Add the wine, and season to taste. Simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 minutes or more, skimming occasionally. Correct seasoning.
5. Just before serving, stir in the cognac. Pour into a soup tureen, top with baguette, then cheese, and melt until almost brown under the broiler.

Bon Appétit.

]]> http://blankascanvas.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/tanks-floods-crocodile-hats/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:09:04 +0000 blankascanvas http://blankascanvas.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/tanks-floods-crocodile-hats/

Sugardrop tomato that’s sweeter than a peach

A revolutionary new tomato that tastes as sweet as a peach hits the shelves tomorrow in a push to encourage children eat more healthily. The Sugardrop is the sweetest tomato ever created and is a natural hybrid of two different varieties of the fruit. And because of its unusual taste it is expected to appeal to people who find the normal versions too sharp. Sugardrop tomato from Tesco The breed is the result of an incredible two years of trials involving 3,000 different tomato types and was developed exclusively for supermarket giant Tesco. It was grown on the Costa Calida, in Murcia, south west Spain and by the chain’s grower Paloma. And because of the highly competitive nature of the food world, the creators are not even revealing which two varieties were crossed to create the fruit. They fear that because of the potential of the Sugardrop other rival growers will try and copy it to muscle in on to the £520million UK market. Tesco tomato buyer Ashleigh McWilliams said the gourmet bite had been planned from as early as 2007. She said: ‘A few years ago met up with our suppliers and asked them to find us a high quality tomato which would appeal to gourmets with a sweet tooth. ‘It was the start of major research that involved our growers contacting all the major seed houses in the world. ‘They wanted to find varieties that they could cross pollinate to find a tomato with higher than normal sugar levels. ‘The result is the Sugardrop, which is the sweetest tomato there has ever been and now this week UK shoppers will be the first to try it.’ The tomato is a herbaceous plant native to South America, which can grow up to ten feet in height.They were not grown in England until the 1590s and by the mid-1700s were widely eaten throughout the country. It now used as the staple ingredient in thousands of popular dishes including lasagne, spaghetti bolognaise and pizza. This latest breed is expected to create even more fans of the fruit as they attract to its sweet flavour. The Sugardrop growers have managed to achieve sugar levels – or the technical term of brix levels – of nine to 13 brix. A standard peach has a nine brix level so each of the new tomatoes are guaranteed to be at least as sweet as the fruit. They are being sold as part of Tesco’s Finest food range and will cost £1.50 for a 280g punnet. Ashleigh added: ‘As tomatoes are so healthy we’re hoping that the added sweetness of the Sugardrop will also appeal to children. ‘We think they might be a draw for people who might otherwise turn their noses up at them.’

Tornado leaves trail of destruction as wild weather continues to sweep across Britain

A tornado left a trail of devastation today after tearing through a suburb as extreme weather continued to sweep across Britain. The mini-cyclone destroyed a garage, damaged trees and ripped off roof tiles when it struck Littleover, in Derby, shortly before 2pm. Residents of the streets badly hit by the freak winds described a ‘dusty cloud’ that turned the sky black and sent wheelie bins flying through the air into cars.

Andy Woodward surveys the damage to his garage in Dennis Close, Littleover, following a mini tornado One told how it was like ‘driving into a washing machine’ at the height of the storm. Others described the sky turning black. Richard Bryan said: ‘I thought I’d driven into a washing machine – a wall of water and wind just hit the car with terrific force and almost stopped it. ‘I got the wipers on full pelt and, when the window cleared, all I could see were three dustbins. The wind picked them up and they actually flew into the air. One of them came straight towards the car but just passed over the top.’ Stelios Panteli, 43, was knocked over in the sudden storm. He said: ‘I was in the kitchen when I heard the front door blow open. I went to close it, but I was knocked backwards into the kitchen. ‘When I went outside I saw a wheelie bin had smashed the back window of a lady’s car. ‘It was all over in about 15 seconds, but it was 15 seconds of chaos. It looked like a dusty cloud swirling around at the front of the house and then it disappeared. It’s just very lucky that no one was hurt.’

A resident begins repairing roof damage caused by the mini-cyclone

Andy Woodward, 28, returned from a shopping trip to find the garage on the side of his mother’s house had been battered. He said: ‘The garage is hanging off at 45 degrees. I think it was because it was a bit more exposed, but you don’t expect winds to knock a garage down. When I got back there were fences down and roof tiles strewn about. It was absolute mayhem.’ The emergency services inspected nearby buildings to check they were safe. Bryon Chalcraft, from the Met Office, said more tornadoes could hit the country over the next three days. He said: ‘Heavy showers, strong winds and thunder storms were all present in the Derbyshire area. They could well have combined to create the right conditions for a tornado. ‘When strong up-draughts meet down-draughts, circulations of air can form and when they drop to ground level they can form a tornado. ‘When you get a strong cold front at this time of year, as we have moving across the country from the east, there is always a small chance of a tornado developing.’

Teacher Attacked By 4 Year Old…..Get A Grip !!!…Hardly An Attack !!!

Boy, 4, becomes one of the youngest pupils in Britain to be  expelled from school

A boy aged four has become one of the youngest children in Britain to be expelled from school. He was thrown out of his primary just weeks after starting for constantly disrupting classes and attacking teachers. In one incident the youngster is said to have lashed out at a teacher after he was dragged away from light switches he was repeatedly flicking on and off. And a second teacher claims the boy, who cannot be named, kicked her after he got into an argument with another pupil over a jigsaw.

Up to a dozen five-year-olds have been given their marching orders from schools across the UK but this youngster is one of the first four-year-olds to be expelled. Under education guidelines children who behave badly can be sent home from school by the headteacher for a fixed period or permanently. The boy, who only started school in September, was kicked out after what teachers described as a catalogue of problems. His parents refused to agree to a special action plan to deal with his behaviour and he was expelled a few days later. But his family say he is a lively and lovable little boy who has never caused any problems before starting school. His mother said she was ’shocked’ when she was called out of work to  collect her son from the school. She said: ‘They are making him out to be a thug and I think they are treating him far too old. ‘They are saying he won’t listen, is disruptive and is just doing what he wants but he’s still only four and getting used to school and they just don’t know how to be with him.’

The mother, a caterer, said: ‘There is absolutely nothing wrong with [my son] and he knows the difference between right and wrong,. ‘At home he is quiet and if he does get a bit boisterous then he gets told off and told to behave himself. ‘He was one of the youngest in the class and it is down to the teachers to help him settle and I don’t think that has been done. ‘They are saying he’s very violent and all the other kids are scared of him. I’ve never heard such nonsense.’ The mother said she and her husband are worried their son will now find it very difficult to settle in a new school. She said: ‘They said he is being disruptive and he is very immature, but he is only four year old for goodness sake.’ The child was sent home on four separate occasions by the headteacher at the Lancashire primary school before finally being expelled a week ago. The headteacher said: ‘It is only on very rare occasions that a school would consider  permanently excluding a child as young as four. ‘At such a young age, behaviour of the kind that could lead to exclusion needs to be investigated and dealt with quickly by the appropriate specialists. ‘In order to do this, we do, of course, need the full co-operation of the family so that we can put the  right support in place. ‘Our aim is not to punish but to carry out an assessment and successfully reintegrate the child into mainstream school as  quickly as possible.’ She added: ‘When children are excluded permanently, if parents disagree with the decision, the usual course is for them to appeal to the school governors and then to an independent panel. Both have the power to overturn the decision.’ A spokesman for  the National Association of Headteachers said: ‘Previous fixed term exclusions for a four-year-old is highly unusual but they demonstrate how seriousness of the problems with this child.’ The youngest pupil to be expelled from a British school was a three-year-old girl who was thrown out of school for her violent behaviour. The unnamed little girl was sent home from a reception class for assaulting a fellow student at a primary school in Caerphilly in Wales last year.

Todays Earworms

What The Crocodile hat ???????

Onions are obviously very popular, Looking at what people searched Google for when they came across my blog today…Katie Price…Nope….Jedward…Nope….Joe Bugner…Nearly……ONIONS…..21 visits from people Googling Onions….What the hell ????

I think my dad has been cooking this Chilli Con Carne recipe since before he met mum!  The original recipe comes from this ancient ’70s St Michael’s cook book but it’s one of those family dishes that no longer needs a recipe, we just get on with it.  I like this recipe as it’s a nice, tasty and warming way of getting more pulses in my diet and I’m trying to get away from eating so much pasta so rice makes an excellent staple carb alternative.   My dad’s a bit of a spice maniac it has to be said.  Back in his army days he once drank coffee with Tabasco in it and declared it to be delicious!  I, however, am not so fond of chilli, I like a bit of spice, sure, but I like to be able to taste the food that comes with it and noone likes to eat a meal with their nose running constantly.  So spicy food is always a bit of a compromise in our family.  We aim for somewhere in the middle and I cool mine down with yoghurt or creme fraiche and dad adds Tabasco to his. 

Not the best photo, it's all a bit white!

Serves 4

1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
750g minced beef
1 tsp chilli powder
1 chilli, chopped (either leave this out if you’re not a fan of spice or put more in if you’re mental!)
1×400g tin chopped tomatoes
150ml beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
1×400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

- Heat a few tbsp oil in a large pan.  Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft. 
- Add the minced beef, chilli powder and chilli.  Cook until browned, stirring occasionally. 
- Add the tomatoes, beef stock, tomato puree and sugar and stir until well combined. 
- Put a lid on the pan and simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes, stirring a few times. *
- Add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes. 
- Serve with basmati rice. 

*Normally we cook it up to this point early in the day or evening then leave it standing until dinner time when we heat it up again then add the beans for the final 5 minutes.