Post-Thanksgiving Lentil Soup-Via CHOW.com

Homemade Soup

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. It's just the P-Man and I...so no need to go crazy cooking a 17 pound turkey! I decided to cook a nice little ham...and it turned out well-eventhough the above mentioned P-Man pooh-poohed the delicious delicata squash chunks I scattered at the bottom of the roaster.

Fresh Ginger Cake: "Breakfast Lunch Tea-Rose Bakery"

One of my few remaining cookbooks

 Fresh Ginger Cake

Ginger is an ingredient I came to fairly late in my cooking life. My mother kept a dusty jar of ground ginger in her 1970's spice rack but I never recall her using it. When did I discovered fresh ginger? I can't tell you, although I do remember reading a recipe that had fresh ginger as an ingredient in my very favourite...

Bread+Egg=Heaven!

Sort of Cooking-Really Delicious!
My husband was out of town this week, and after 29 years of marriage, that means 1 thing…I eat when, what, and if I want.

Eggs are a sort of 'go-to' for me. The protein fills me up, and a fried egg sandwich is a treat because I am not generally a sandwich eater. I had a jar of roasted red peppers in the fridge, and think they were one of the STARS of this particular sandwich…they added a bit of sweetness, and a 'vegetable' component which I try to have at every meal.

Ham and Dijon mustard are perfect together…and in my fridge I also had this tasty, scraggly piece of ham I picked up at a fantastic urban deli in the Crosstown neighbourhood of Vancouver, a place called The Dirty Apron.(the ham was scraggly looking because every time I went anywhere near the kitchen, a piece ended up in my mouth!)

Lastly…Any sandwich that has any hope of being delicious MUST have good bread. You all know my dad was a baker, so I drive miles for good bread, just on principle! This tasty loaf is called a 'Millers Grain Loaf', and is available a couple of miles from my place in Ocean Park, at a bakery called Fieldstone. It's crunchy and dense, and yeasty, and full of nuts and seeds. If this post has you thinking about creating a few tasty sandwiches for you or yours tonight, check out everybodylikessandwiches.com a great blog!

Anyone have a favourite sandwich? Please leave me a comment…and don't forget to share! I'm on Twitter too…@CathyCavern.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Winter 2014

It's been a long cold winter. I'm on the West Coast of Canada…so I will spare you the horror of imagining temperatures of minus 1 degree Celsius! Needless to say, I have been cooking more than usual, in between checking the Canadian Dollar vs the US dollar in hopes of getting myself to Honolulu.

Butternut Squash
I'm not a huge squash fan, but butternut squash I like. I decided to make some soup, and thought that roasting the squash would give the soup some richness, in the absence of meat. I roasted the squash, with a few carrots and parsnips I had laying around, but by the time the squash was soft, the carrots and parsnips were nearly incinerated! I piled them into a bowl, and ate them as a before soup snack, as I was worried my soup would turn out smokey or burnt tasting.

chow.com
I adapted this recipe from: chow.com Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Recipe by Christine Gallary
You can view the original recipe here. My adapted recipe is below. I hope you like it. I thought it was simply delicious!  Please leave me a comment…and please feel free to share…

RECIPE:
1 medium butternut squash
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium Ambrosia apple
1/2 medium yellow onion
8 fresh sage leaves
2 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock
2 1/2 cups water
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a 425 degree preheated oven roast the squash as above-cut side up, on an aluminum foil lined baking tray.(brush the squash with olive oil and season w salt and pepper. Roast until tender-approx 60 min. Wash and core the apple. Cut the apple and the yellow onion into a medium dice and cook in a saucepan with the butter and fresh sage over medium heat. Season the mixture with salt&pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Scoop the softened squash into the saucepan with the apple onion mixture, add the water and the stock, and a bit more salt&pepper. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes. Using a blender, puree the soup in batches until smooth, being sure to only fill the blender up half way, and placing a kitchen towel over the lid to prevent splattering. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Delicious&Nutritious Kale Salad

Kale:

I have tried kale before. I made several batches of kale chips back when everybody was whispering:

”Have you tried making your own KALE CHIPS??? They are so delicious!”

To tell you the truth…I thought kale chips tasted like slightly grassy air. The chopping and seasoning and baking, just wasn’t worth it for me.

Then I found this recipe from Chef Karen Barnaby for Kale Salad, Caesar Style …and my ‘kale LOVE’ started to grow! (My changes/substitutions are in BOLD)

Recipe:

This has no croutons but feel free to add them if you like.

1 ½ teaspoons(7ml) finely chopped garlic-I used 2 big fat cloves-minced

1/4 tsp (1ml) sea salt-I used a big pinch and kept adding until I liked it-but keep in mind the Parmesan cheese adds a salty bite.

1 large anchovy filet, finely chopped.

1 tablespoon (15ml) Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons (30ml) lemon juice-I used the juice of ½ a large lemon.

6 drops Tabasco sauce-I used a big squirt of sriracha HOT chili sauce.

8 drops Worcestershire sauce

5 tablespoons (75ml) extra virgin olive oil-I used 3 tablespoons

1 large egg or 3 tablespoons(45 ml)prepared mayonnaise-I used 3 tablespoons of Hellmann’s half the fat mayonnaise.

freshly ground black pepper

2 bunches kale, washed dried, stemmed, and de-ribbed cut into 1 inch pieces. I used 1 bunch of curly kale, cut it into fine julienne strips, and performed a pre-kale massage!(see below)

½ cup(125ml) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

What I did…

In a mortar and pestle I crushed the garlic, salt, and anchovy filet to a smooth paste. In a bowl, I added the crushed mixture, the mayonnaise, the mustard, lemon juice, sriracha, Worcestershire sauce and olive oil. I added the olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking after each addition, until smooth. I stacked up the kale leaves, and sliced them as fine as I could. I added them to a large bowl, and sprinkled a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil onto the leaves. Then with my hands, I scrunched the kale until it was soft, bright green and shiny(about 2 minutes of scrunching!) Let the kale sit in the bowl on the counter for about half an hour. I started out with about a ¼ cup of dressing, mixed it into the kale, tasted, and added a bit more. I had enough dressing left for another couple of salads. I piled the kale salad up on 2 plates, 1 for the P-Man, and 1 for me. It was delicious. Unusual texture…so finely chopped, and the dressing was one of the best Caesar salad dressings I have ever had.

Beats the Hell out of kale chips…I hope you will try it! Please leave me a comment…and don’t forget to share…