Food

Thanksgiving

/ Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

2016-11-25-18-36-30-smTimed to coincide with the last of the autumn harvest, Thanksgiving is traditionally a celebration of the foods that store through winter—pumpkins, apples, potatoes, corn.

Which is why we don’t really celebrate it here. Not in the traditional culinary sense, at least. Apples and potatoes are wrinkled and old by November. The pumpkins are all gone.

But there is much to be thankful for at the beginning of summer, and our Thanksgiving Day meal reflects this—pasta full of spinach, artichokes, and peas; a fresh green salad; and strawberries for dessert. Indeed, every day is a harvest celebration at our house. Every day, I am thankful for the sun, rain, and soil. I am thankful for our ability to produce much of our own food. I am thankful for my children, who understand and appreciate the amount of work that goes into every bite they eat—who thank the cook and the gardener every day.

I am thankful for the partner with whom I share the daily tasks that provide food for our table. I am thankful for the neighbours who help keep animals and plants alive when we go on vacation.

Yes, I’m sometimes a grumpy farmer—there’s never enough rain, the pests are terrible, the neighbour’s weed-killer has wafted across the fence line again…there’s always something to complain about.

But however much I grumble as I’m pulling weeds or dragging irrigation hoses around, dinner is always a time of Thanksgiving.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

/ Robinne Weiss / 1 Comment

2016-11-23-18-32-40-smI know that for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, an ice cream sandwich might not be enticing at this time of year, but you’ll want to save this recipe for later. Better yet, turn up the thermostat and make them now, regardless of the weather.

When I first made speculaas, I thought the texture was perfect for an ice cream sandwich cookie. It’s been quite a while, but I finally got around to modifying the recipe to turn it into the perfect ice cream sandwich cookie.

2 ½ cups flour
½ cup baking cocoa
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs milk

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla and milk. Gradually add the flour mixture until it is all incorporated, and the dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and roll to about 3 mm (1/8 inch) thickness. Cut with a knife into ice cream sandwich sized rectangles (about 5 x 12 cm (2 x 5 inches)), and prick with a fork for the classic look. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes at 190°C (375°F).

Allow to cool, then sandwich ice cream between two cookies, wrap in waxed paper, and allow to sit in the freezer for at least an hour. I cut the ice cream into the right size slabs with a butter knife.

 

Berries Bought with Blood

/ Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

2016-11-18-13-33-56-smGooseberries are one of my favourite fruits for jam—high in pectin, a beautiful colour, and wonderfully tart.

I just wish the plants weren’t so vindictive…

I watch the fruits swell with a mix of excitement and trepidation. There will be lots of fruit soon, but the price of picking it will be scratched and bloody hands.

I should probably prune the plants, so there’s more space to get in there and pick. But pruning brings its own blood price, and one of the things I like most about gooseberries is that they pretty much take care of themselves. They do well in dry conditions, and they compete well with the weeds. That they give us fruit without the fuss of pruning is a huge bonus.

All in all, I suppose I can’t complain about the trade-off. A little blood for a harvest of delicious fruit is a good deal.

Strawberry Secrets

/ Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

2016-11-16-14-50-36-smShhh!!

Don’t tell my family.

I ate the first strawberry of the season!

It was delicious!

I’m usually quite generous with my garden produce—everyone gets a fair share of the goodies. But when it comes to the first strawberry of the year, I turn selfish.

I always get the first strawberry.

I get it, because I plant, and weed, and water, and weed again. Because in two weeks, I’ll be spending an hour a day just picking berries, then countless hours processing them into jam and other yummy treats for everyone to enjoy.

It’s my sweet reward for a year of work.

The secret will out in a day or two. When I come in with three berries, and give one to everyone else in the family, saving none for myself, they’ll know. They’ll know I ate the first one already.

But by then it won’t matter. I will have gotten the first one.

 

Celebrating Spinach

/ Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

2016-11-09-17-53-08-smThe garden is bursting with spinach right now, and we are loving every minute of it. Most meals have spinach in them at this time of year, and some are mostly spinach with a few other things added.

This dish was one of those mostly spinach meals—soft polenta topped with garlic and spinach, cooked just until the spinach begins to give up its moisture. The dish is supposed to also have lots of onion in it, but last year’s onions have all sprouted, and this year’s aren’t ready yet, so I used a handful of chives, instead. And just because I felt like it, I sprinkled some purple chive blossoms over the top, just for the colour.

The result was pretty, and quite tasty!

Excellent Chocolate Cake Recipe

/ Robinne Weiss / 1 Comment

2016-11-10-21-26-12-smIf you made my pumpkin cupcake recipe last week, you’ll have leftover cream cheese frosting. Here’s another amazing cake to use that leftover icing on. This comes straight from the 1997 edition of Joy of Cooking. It is an odd recipe, and making it takes more bowls than any other cake I’ve ever made. But it’s worth the extra washing up—rich and chocolaty!

 

In bowl #1, combine:
1 cup sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ cup buttermilk or yogurt

In bowl #2, combine:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

In bowl #3, combine:

½ cup buttermilk or yogurt
1 tsp vanilla

In bowl #4 (a large one), cream:
8 Tbsp (125 g) unsalted butter, softened

Gradually add and beat on high speed until light in colour and texture:
1 cup sugar

Beat in 1 at a time:
2 eggs

Beat in the cocoa mixture. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk mixture. Spoon into greased and floured pans (makes 2 9×2-in layers), or paper lined muffin tins (makes about 18).

Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-25 min for cake, 25 min for cupcakes.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

/ Robinne Weiss / 4 Comments

2016-11-06-13-47-06-smIt’s been a cupcake sort of week here. I would hesitate to post yet another cupcake blog, but these are so seasonal for many of you, that I will anyway.

While you in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying the autumn pumpkin harvest fresh, I’m trying to clear out the last of the frozen pumpkin puree from the freezer to make way for the peas that will soon be pouring in.

What better way to use pumpkin than in cake?

This recipe is adapted from a pumpkin cake recipe in King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking.

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 cup barley flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin

Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil, and sugar until it’s the consistency of mayonnaise. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the pumpkin, then the dry ingredients.

Spoon into paper-lined cupcake tins. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20 minutes.

Cool completely, then frost with cream cheese frosting and decorate with crystallised ginger.

If you want to bake this as a cake, be sure to line your pans with parchment—the barley flour makes for a very fragile cake—and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Frosting:

1 package (250g/8 oz) cream cheese, softened
85 g (6 Tbsp, 3 oz) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar

Beat the cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar. If the icing is too stiff, add milk by the teaspoon until it reaches the right spreading consistency (I generally don’t need to add any milk).

 

On-the-Fly Spinach Tart

/ Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

2016-11-04-18-25-58-smMy plan was an easy dinner tonight. I’d been saving a few artichokes—letting them get big, so we could have steamed whole artichokes. I figured I’d make a salad with some leftover cous cous in the fridge, and maybe fry up some tofu crusted with herbs and parmesan cheese. Quick and easy.

Then I went to the garden and saw the spinach. Beautiful, glossy leaves, loving the bit of rain we’ve had recently. There was so much of it, I couldn’t resist.

So instead of a quick, easy meal, I made a spinach tart to go with those artichokes.

Dinner was a little late, but it was well worth it. There wasn’t a crumb left when we were through.

Trying to work quickly, I didn’t bother looking for a recipe. Here’s what I did.

I made a standard pie crust—enough for a single-crust pie. I rolled it out and lined my tart pan, then put it in the fridge to chill while I prepared the filling.

For the filling, I used:

Fresh spinach (maybe 1kg (2 lbs), coarsely chopped)

Fresh chives (a good handful, chopped)

Fresh dill weed (4 Tbsp, chopped)

1 cup grated goat cheddar

4 large eggs

salt and pepper to taste

I cooked the spinach and chives with a few tablespoons of olive oil until the spinach was well cooked, and most of the water had boiled off. I removed it to a bowl to cool. When it was cool enough to handle, I squeezed more water out of the spinach, and drained it off. (You want the spinach pretty dry, to keep the crust from getting soggy.)

I mixed in the dill, cheese, eggs, and salt and pepper, then poured the mix into the prepared crust. I baked it at 190°C (375°F) for about 40 minutes. I let it cool ten minutes before serving.

Instant Peanut Butter Cupcakes

/ Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

2016-11-03-07-54-46-smI have always used the Mennonite Community Cookbook peanut butter cupcake recipe in the past. It makes a good, peanutty cupcake.

I had my mind on peanut butter cupcakes yesterday, but I had pulled out several cookbooks, to see if anything else caught my eye. I ran across this recipe in the 1997 edition of Joy of Cooking, and had to try it. It was perfect for my needs—I was only starting my baking at 9 pm, and needed something quick to make. But surely, this couldn’t work—no separate mixing of wet and dry ingredients, no beating air into the butter, just throw it all together…

Combine in a food processor:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup brown sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup milk
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup chocolate chips

Pulse for a few seconds to mix. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Pulse until smooth. Fill cupcake tins two-thirds full (I poured the batter directly from the food processor bowl) and bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes.

I was dubious, but the result was fantastic—pretty cupcakes that taste great! Of course, cleaning the food processor takes a lot longer than cleaning a mixing bowl and beaters, but the speed at which I got the cupcakes into the oven was worth the extra cleaning.

Umami Stacks

/ Robinne Weiss / Leave a comment

umamestack1My husband came home from work early yesterday, which gave us a rare mid-week chance to cook dinner together.

“What I want,” he said, “is some sort of pastry. Little rounds topped with feta cheese and…I don’t know what. What’s out in the garden?”

“Pak choi, asparagus, artichokes…” I began. “Artichokes would be good.”

“Yeah, but a lot of work.”

“Not if you use last year’s canned ones—there are still some left.”

Before we knew it, we had concocted these incredible little pastries. We called them umami stacks for their dose of umami-rich ingredients. They were as beautiful as they were delicious. With mid-week meals like this, it’s no wonder we never bother to go out to eat.

We measured nothing, but here’s an approximation of a recipe…

Make your favourite pie crust—enough for a double-crust pie. Roll thin and cut into 8-10 cm (3-4 inch) rounds. Arrange the rounds on ungreased baking sheets and chill until you’re ready to use (my recipe made 24 rounds).

Toast a few tablespoons of sesame seeds in a dry skillet until browning. Grind them in a mortar and pestle with some coarse salt and black peppercorns. Set aside.

Slice a generous handful of portobello mushrooms, and sauté with a little garlic. Set aside.

Steam 10 asparagus spears. Remove 8-10 cm tips and set aside. Chop the remaining stems.

Mix in a large bowl, mashing slightly:

  • feta cheese (about 125 g)
  • canned artichokes (1 pint jar)
  • spinach (several good handfuls, cooked well)
  • fresh dill weed (a handful, chopped)
  • 1 egg
  • the chopped asparagus

Spread a dollop of the feta mixture on each pastry round. Top with a few slices of mushroom and an asparagus tip. Sprinkle with the sesame seed mixture.

Bake at 190°C (375°F) until the pastry is lightly browned—15-20 minutes.

 

*We had six pastry rounds left over. I spread them with softened butter, sugar, and cinnamon, rolled them up, and baked them with the umami stacks. Mmmmm!