Tag: vegetables

It's Not Just Leftover Chicken!

We had the carcass of the chicken, a leg, and a cob of corn left in the fridge from the other night’s dinner. What to do? Make soup!

While we watched t.v., we put the carcass in a large Dutch oven with a sliced onion and set it to boil. We turned it down and let it simmer for a couple of hours, then cooled it down until we could handle it.

After that, we removed the meat from the bones. We set the strained broth to boiling again. We added some sliced radish, green and yellow beans, and yellow bell pepper. We also put in a few sliced garlic cloves and a diced onion. For herbs, whatever we had (in this case, summer savory, and a grind of salt).

When the onion seemed to be soft, we threw in about half a cup (125ml) each of red rice and Puy lentils. After about half an hour, we removed the corn from the cob, and diced the remaining chicken. This, plus the original chicken, were added back in. What a great meal, all from leftovers. Add some bread and wine, and it’s even good enough for guests.

Poached Perch Dinner

Dinner in a hurry! We had a long day yesterday, and needed dinner, fast. In the freezer were a package of perch fillets we had picked up earlier this summer.

There were a couple of potatoes in the bin, and some yellow and green beans we found at the farmer’s market. Here’s what we did:

We peeled the potatoes and put them to boil in the bottom of a steamer pot. Then we put the zest and juice of a lemon, with half a cup (125ml) of water in another pot, and set it to boil. We snipped the beans and added them to the top of the steamer. Finally, we put the frozen fillets in the pot with the lemon, and turned it down to a point where just the occasioal bubble arose from the pot. Within 10 minutes, it was all done. Deliciously!

Corniest Meal of the Week

It’s corn season! There’s corn at all the small veg shops in the walkable neighbourhood, and at farmstands around the outskirts of the city. We boiled up a few delicious cobs (a little butter, and you’re good to go!)

Dinner last night also featured a great green salad, and some Chili Lemon Chicken.

Ultimate Summer Coleslaw

No time for food styling, it’s coleslaw time! This is an ultimate summer dish because it’s cool, crunchy, and fast to make on a hot day. Given that we’ve been having record high temperatures for weeks on end, that’s vital!

Moreover, the great thing about coleslaw is that it only takes a few ingredients, usually easily available. In our case we went to Kelly’s Fruit Market and Plank Road Market for a cabbage and some carrots. We could have hand-grated, but in this case we used a food processor to shred them together. Then we mixed in a generous dollop of mayonnaise. (Disclaimer alert: the mayo wasn’t walkable, exactly. We walked to a store in France and we walked it home in our suitcase. It’s from Maille, the famous mustard people. And it’s full of egg-y goodness, just like mayonnaise you’d make yourself, if you had time. We also gave a good splash of white wine vinegar, and a liberal shake (probably a teaspoon, for a bowl this size) of celery seed. That’s it. Stir it all together, let it stand for a few minutes in the fridge (or longer if you’d like) for the flavours to develop. We served it with the amazing halibut in yesterday’s blog, and it was a big hit.

Red Deliciousness

Recently we had some Copper River Salmon from Hooked. It looked sublime, even before it was cooked. We took the fillet and rubbed it down with a little olive oil, then chopped some herbs over it – green onion, tarragon, oregano, and garlic chives. We sprinkled some dry mustard over, and gave it a very light grind of salt.

We cooked it on the grill, on a sheet of foil, since we didn’t have a plank. The smell was glorious. While it was cooking, we boiled up some baby red potatoes, and sliced up a radish or two. We mixed those in with the bean salad from the day before. It was an amazing feast.

Canada Day Barbecue

What would you eat on Canada Day? At our place, it’s nearly always barbecue. We usually have our friends and family here, but this year Brother Rob is the cook and the host. We don’t know his plan yet, but it’ll be something just as good as these veal-and-lamb burgers from the Belanger Brothers, dressed with some home-made chili sauce from last summer, and Kozlik’s mustard.

Put a fresh salad on the side, follow it up with some strawberry shortcake (made with biscuits, the maritime way).

Oh, Canada!

The Goddess is Green

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember Green Goddess dressing. But the old-school version was very creamy and very caloric. It also was often made like mayonnaise, with a raw egg, which doesn’t hold up to everyone’s food safety standards these days.

This version’s a simple homage to the original: whisk together a white-wine style Dijon (about a tablespoon), and a similar amount of olive oil, and lime juice. Give it just a pinch of salt and some finely chopped herbs (we had some tarragon, greek oregano, and garlic chives). Gently stir in about a tablespoon of plain yogurt and 1/2 a cup of finely diced cucumber. Pour over whatever veg you’re serving, and others will be green with envy

I'm Feeling a Bit Crunchy!

Wow! It’s been ages since our last post. It’s because of work – too much of it all at once. But who can turn down exciting challenges and opportunities? Now there’s time to relax, but first I’ll have to get the kinks out – and eat some proper food.

When we’re feeling a little crunchy and out-of-sorts, we like to have a nice batch of fresh vegetables. These radishes and cukes were from the East Lynn Farmers Market. We dressed them with a little cider vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil, and some black sesame seeds.

Feeling better already!

Lettuce Begin!

The harvest has begun on the urban farm. (We’re also seeing some fabulous produce in the Farmer’s Markets at East Lynn and Coxwell). Most exciting, is when we can start clipping lettuce, right outside the back door.

Summertime, and the Grillin' is Easy…

As farmer’s market begins and more seasonal products are available, the menu plan needs to be flexible. What looked good today? What was a great deal? What was fresh?

This week we had some chicken thighs in the freezer. But asparagus is really the star, and it’s everywhere. So we made our usual chicken marinade of olive oil, lemon, pepper and garlic, and let the thighs rest a bit. We put similar flavours on the asparagus. Everything went on the grill, and the meal was rounded out with some delicious short grain brown rice from Better Bulk, which had been pre-cooked and frozen. A quick heating in the microwave (or steaming on the stovetop) and we were ready to eat.  Relaxing and easy, without over-heating the house as the spring temperatures ramp up for summer.