Seeing Fish in a Whole New Light

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What a week! I had eye surgery on Thursday so I am now experiencing the world in a whole new way…without glasses. Even the food looks different. To clarify, I still need a little tune-up in the reading department, but I am gratefully having a chance to re-learn the gift of sight. On Friday after my Day One checkup, we swung by the Purple Purl to pick up some needles, then Hooked for the fish (halibut fillets). Oven-baked fish and chips made good use of some multicoloured potatoes we had on hand. They’re so easy to make…highly recommended!

Friday Crazy Week Fish

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Lent is nearly here. As usual, that means that just as we need to be taking stock, counting our blessings, and engaging in some introspection, the world of work is starting to get spring fever. Of course our personal commitments are also on the upswing. Projects are underway, and to-do lists are multiplying. One way to slow down the hamster wheel is to simplify wherever we can. Like Friday’s fish dinner…the perfect way to put the brakes on a hectic week.

Simply prepared, the meal includes black cod, cooked in a little olive oil and butter, and dressed with a squeeze of lime juice. On the side, a salad of local greenhouse veg (lettuce, tomato, cukes, green onion) topped with a couple of spears of visiting asparagus. For the dressing:

1T/15ml olive oil
1T/15ml Maille Dijon with hazelnuts and nutmeg (or add some nutmeg and ground nuts to your own mustard
1T/15ml sherry vinegar

I feel calmer just remembering it…

Top Superbowl Food: Confirmed

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We heard that the top Superbowl food was chicken wings. We also know those who flavour chili. But we decided Lamb and Chickpea Tagine was called for. We started with a recipe from www.cookinglight.com, then made some adaptations: deglazing with some beer after the browning stage, lemongrass pounded and tossed in with the garlic instead of cilantro at the end, baking slowly in the oven instead of stovetop, adding yogurt, and substituting parsley and pecans for cilantro and pistachios. (OK, we still used the lamb and the chickpeas).

Now all that’s left is the cheering and the crying.

Pain Perdu

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Sunday morning…full of surprises! We were sitting at the table reading our (virtual) newspapers and having coffee, when the tiny birds departed the feeder en masse. We thought it was a cat at the heart of the matter, but on top of the fence sat a falcon. Not your everyday city breakfast visitor. Then he spied us, and made a hasty departure.

We retired to the stove and made ourselves some whole wheat French toast…with strawberries from our frozen cache, and just a little bit of Canadian maple syrup.

La Chandeleur

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La Chandeleur is crepe day in France, at its origins a celebration of the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of Baby Jesus. If you’re a devoted Francophile, it’s a great excuse to make crepes, whether you’re religious or secular. These were time-consuming but not at all difficult to make.

The recipe serves four as a meal, or 8 as a brunch or dessert…

250 ml fat-free cottage cheese
120g light cream cheese
60 ml sugar
5 ml vanilla
250 ml white, whole wheat, or spelt flour
375ml 1% milk
15ml vegetable oil
5 ml vanilla
3 large eggs
Cooking oil
500 ml raspberries
15ml icing sugar

Blend or process cheeses, first sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Place in bowl and chill about an hour.

Whisk together milk, oil, flour, next vanilla, and eggs, until nearly smooth. Cover and an hour.

Heat a nonstick skillet to medium-high, brush with oil. Add about 60ml batter. Tilt quickly to spread in a thin layer. Cook until the top doesn’t look wet any more.

When crepe loosens from its pan on its own, flip and cook about 30 seconds.

Place finished crepes on tea towel and fill them with cheese, rolling or folding, one at a time. Heat nonstick skillet at medium, and put crepes in to reheat. Serve warm with powdered sugar and berries.

The Slow Road to Deliciousness!

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The weather in Ontario this week hardly constitutes the kind of weather for “cold weather food”. But it’s a small sacrifice for something so delicious. We had two lovely local lamb shanks in the freezer. While those were browning in a Dutch oven on top of the stove, we chopped a carrot, a hot pepper, a leek, and a stalk of celery. When the shanks were browned we turned the oven to 350F. Then we added the veg and sautéed until they were softened a bit. After deglazing with a little beer, we added a stalk of thyme (the leaves will fall off and the stem can be fished out before serving). Other flavours included a few raisins, 3 chopped dried apricots, 6 pitted, chopped black olives, some oregano, chili powder, and ground cloves.

We poured over a pint of diced tomatoes (or half a large can), covered it, and put in the oven for 20 minutes. Then we turned the shanks, let it go for another 20 minutes. For the last 10 minutes we took the lid off, and in the meantime, made mashed potatoes. The lamb was fall-off-the-bone delicious. Happy Groundhog Day!

Purple Chicken Soup!

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After roasting a chicken the other night, we decided to make some soup with the leftovers. All was going well, until it came time to add the vegetables. There were good choices – garlic, ginger, celery, onion and mushrooms. Some tasty small pasta. Then the trouble began…I decided to use a couple of carrots that were in the fridge. One was purple. Not thinking, in they went. Before I knew it, the soup was an awesome shade between fuchsia and lilac. We’re too frugal to throw out an perfectly good pot of soup…so after eating a bowl with some homemade rye bread, we put the rest in the freezer to serve to some adventurous young visitor!

Salade de…Boeuf?!?

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When we had a houseful of teenagers, “leftover roast beef” was an oxymoron. But our home is emptier now, and our eating habits have changed as well. Today at lunch we needed to use some roast beef. But not too much. Also on hand: a couple of roasted beets, some arugula, and the last ounce of Shropshire Blue from our New Year’s party. We sliced the beets on a bed of arugula, then the beef. Next, a vinaigrette using a tablespoon of grainy mustard (ours was Kozlik’s), a couple of teaspoons of olive oil, and the zest and juice of half an orange. A grating of the cheese and we split about a tablespoon of pecans over the two plates for extra crunch.

A Cinderella Story

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Quebec’s stunning Cendrillon cheese from Alexis de Portneuf is delicious all on its own, or with breads, or fruit. But we decided to use it to dress up the ubiquitous beet salad, and elevate that beyond the same old version showing up on menus all over town.

We sliced some leftover roasted beets. Then we sautéed a diced shallot in a little olive oil, and stirred in the juice of a grapefruit and a tiny splash of wine vinegar, plus about a half teaspoon of brown sugar. We reduced this to a couple of tablespoons and mixed with the beets, and set it aside to cool.

On the plates, a mixture of winter and greenhouse lettuces – Boston, radicchio, and arugula. Top it with the beets and grate about an ounce (30g) of the cheese on each (it must be very cold or it is too soft to grate – cubes or slices would work also).

Thanks to this cheese, a dull salad was transformed into a real beauty.

One Spicy Pie

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We’re really getting back into our healthy habits. Our two most important weapons are exercise and meal planning. Going into the day with a food plan means we don’t have to worry about being distracted by circumstances. We’ve also taken time to choose recipes that account for how much we have going on, on that day. Busy days get simple, tasty solutions…like this one.

It’s a delicious recipe from Cooking Light, which has been a tremendous resource on our journey. Since we’re being very conscious of getting our veggies, we served it with a nice salad on the side. We made three adaptations; we cooked the garlic in heart-healthy olive oil, and we substituted a mix of chili powder and cumin for the taco seasoning. We also used cheese that we already had on hand, and weighed the portions carefully.