No, that wasn’t all dinner. I’m in the habit now of sliding back into lunch, and realizing how often these days we sort of graze mid-afternoon, which then often takes over our appetites for dinner. I ended up at my sister’s for dinner tonight, which was sort of impromptu and as such I didn’t happen to have my camera with me. Quel désastre! But it’s OK, we had tacos, and you all know what tacos look like. But then she went and made Nutella crêpes for dessert with our coffee, and wow, they were so pretty I had to share.
So I made her make one for me to take home so that I could a) take photos of it, and b) score some serious Nutella crêpe points with Mike.
I must pause here to air my many grievances with Nutella. I adore the stuff, but don’t buy it - I cannot stand advertisements that extol the virtues of a spread “made with wholesome hazelnuts and skim milk” (I have heard of people actually going to buy some as a healthy alternative to peanut butter) when the first two ingredients are sugar and modified palm oil. Further, the product claims to be “all natural” - remember the second ingredient? Modified palm oil. Where does modified palm oil exist in nature? So it is far more accurate to describe Nutella as a not-so-wholesome spread made with sugar and modified palm oil than one made with nuts and skim milk (it’s skim milk powder, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t pour out of a jug the way it does on the commercial). But of course that’s not what marketing’s all about. Bernard Callebaut, by the way, makes a splendid version made with 50% hazelnuts and 50% BC chocolate, and that’s it. And it’s phenomenal.
But my sister put a warm Nutella-stuffed crêpe in front of me and I had to eat it. I’m so ashamed. But just look at it. As I may have mentioned, it was warm.
But I do think that anyone should know how to make a crêpe. The batter is about as easy as you get - she uses the Joy of Cooking crêpe recipe and whizzes the batter in the blender, which makes it easy to pour directly onto a hot skillet. Crêpe batter should have the texture of heavy cream - both of us always think our batter is too thin at first, but it never actually is. My favourite way to eat crepes has always been spread with soft butter while hot, then sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon and rolled up into a cigar. Or so I thought.
It just this second occurred to me how brilliantly the strawberry-rhubarb compote in my fridge would taste folded into a crêpe; I have always found jam too sweet on a crêpe, but this will be perfect. Great. Welcome to Crêpe Month.
Crêpes
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. butter, melted, or canola oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
pinch salt
extra oil, butter or nonstick spray for cooking with
Pulse the milk, eggs and butter in a blender until foamy or whisk until well blended; add the remaining ingredients and pulse or whisk until smooth. Let the batter sit for half an hour.
When ready to cook, preheat a large skillet or griddle and brush it with butter or oil or spray it with nonstick spray. Pour about a quarter cup onto the skillet and tilt it around so that it runs into a circle. Cook until the top loses its gloss, which should only take a minute or two, then flip. The bottom should be golden. Cook the other side for about 30 seconds and then slide out onto a plate. Keep warm in a 250F oven or serve right away spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon, jam or nutella, and folded or rolled up.
Makes about 12 crepes.
And then there was cake. This afternoon we ended up having round 1 of W’s third birthday party. Since his birthday is on August 4th, which for his entire life has fallen on the August long weekend, most of his friends and cousins are out of town. So this afternoon we had a small party for those who are about to leave on their vacations, and I made a peach and cornmeal upside-down cake after seeing one, I’m a bit embarassed to admit, in this month’s Martha Stewart Living. I started to make it (I love cakes that I can bake in my cast iron skillet) and ended up making so many adaptations that it doesn’t much resemble the original, which was spiked with lavender.
The best thing about this cake, which I loved because it wasn’t too sweet and didn’t require decorating, was the sugary crust it developed as the butter and sugar bubbled up around it as it baked. I can’t wait to try it with blueberries.
We bought an ice cream ball that the kids kicked around the yard to churn brown sugar ice cream to go with it. This part was easy - add 2 cups half & half, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and a few drops of vanilla to the inner container, add ice and rock salt to the outer, and keep it moving until it freezes. This can also be done in a big coffee can, with the ice cream mixture in a smaller one well-sealed inside it.
Peach and Cornmeal Upside-down Cake
(inspired by the dessert of the month in the current issue of Martha Stewart Living)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 ripe peaches or nectarines
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup thin plain yogurt or buttermilk (Martha used heavy cream)
Preheat oven to 350F.
Melt half the butter in a 9″ or 10″ cast iron skillet, cake pan or pie plate. Add 1/4 cup of the sugar and stir until completely melted. Slice the peaches into wedges and arrange them in the skillet, fitting them snugly together - remember that fruit tends to shrink as it cooks. In a small bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl beat the remaining butter and sugar until pale and fluffy; it should be the texture of wet sand. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Add about a third of the dry ingredients and beat on low speed or stir by hand just until blended; add half the yogurt or buttermilk, then another third of the dry ingredients, the rest of the yogurt and the rest of the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
Spread the batter over the peaches and bake for about 30 minutes, until pale golden and the top is springy to the touch.
Makes 1 cake; serves 10-12.
Honestly, I have no idea why my pants don’t fit anymore.
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July 24 2008 | breakfast and cake | No Comments »
OK, what we really had for dinner was the last pickings of bison rotini, but I already told you about that. And W ate most of it, because we were still full from lunch; A came over and we sat out in folding chairs in the yard and drank cold pink fizzy wine and ate pad Thai, and that’s far more interesting.
I had promised to make it, and then when I went to soak my rice noodles I discovered I didn’t have any. I suppose my mission to deplete a seemingly bottomless stash of assorted pasta and noodles has been successful. We had fresh Asian noodles though, so I figured that was close enough.
Pad Thai is fast (if you get everything ready to go before you start), and a perfect way to use up leftover roasted chicken, tofu, or even pork, and if you keep a bag of shrimp in the freezer it’s easy to add a handful to dishes such as this. Tamarind concentrate and chili sauce can be found in the ethnic foods section of grocery stores or in Asian markets, and although not necessary are well worth seeking out - both will keep in the fridge for a long time, so don’t worry about buying a whole jar just to use a few spoonfuls.
Pad Thai
1/2 – 1 lb. (250-500 g) package rice noodles, thin or thick
Sesame, peanut or canola oil, for cooking
1/4 cup tomato sauce or ketchup
1/4 cup fish sauce (nam pla)
1/4 cup lime juice or 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2-4 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. chili sauce or sambal oelek (optional)
1 tsp. tamarind concentrate (optional)
1 cup chopped cooked chicken (optional)
1/2 lb. cooked or uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined (optional)
1 pkg. firm tofu, drained and diced (optional)
1-3 small red chilies (optional)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, crushed (optional)
3 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped peanuts or cashews, salted or unsalted
Lime wedges (optional)
Soak the rice noodles according to the package directions. Rinse them with cold water and drain well. Drizzle the noodles with a little oil to keep them from sticking, and toss to coat.
In a small bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili sauce, and tamarind concentrate (if using).
Heat a good drizzle of oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the meat or shrimp if they’re uncooked (if your meat is cooked, set it aside for now), along with the tofu and the chilies if you’re using them. Cook for a few minutes, until the meat is cooked through or the tofu is golden. Push the mixture aside or remove it from the pan. If you are using shrimp, remove them from the pan so that they don’t overcook and become tough. Add the eggs and cook them as if you were making scrambled eggs, breaking them up with a spatula. Push them aside.
Add a little more oil if you need it and stir fry the garlic and green onions for about a minute. Add the noodles and cook, tossing them with tongs, for another minute. Return any reserved cooked meat to the pan, pour as much of the sauce as you want over it all, and cook for 2-3 minutes, tossing the mixture with tongs or a spatula to coat everything with sauce and heat it through. Add the bean sprouts at the very end as you toss everything together.
Serve immediately in large shallow bowls. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and serve with lime wedges to squeeze over top. Serves 4.
Yesterday we finished off Vij’s chicken curry and rice, but still had rice left over. When this happens and I’m not in the mood to make fried rice, I pour milk over it and bring it to a simmer with a bit of honey; the rice soaks up the milk and the starch thickens it and eventually I have a simple rice pudding. I was about to add some raw short grain rice to the pot, thinking that it could then be called risotto - so much fancier-sounding than rice pudding - and the thought reminded me of the barley risotto I made with mushrooms. Why not add some barley and make a rice and barley pudding? Which would sort of be a risotto? Hey wait, isn’t there a barley cereal with cream on the menu at Diner Deluxe? And isn’t it fabulous?
So I dumped, without measuring, some barley into the pot. Probably about half a cup, and then poured enough milk over to generously cover it. Rice puddings are easy to make this way - just cook until it soaks up the milk, add more, and so on. Sweeten with a little sugar, honey or maple syrup, and once it’s as thick as you want it to be, stir in a splash of vanilla.
The compote was my first jab at using up some of this rhubarb. A few stalks, chopped into a pot with a couple handfuls of strawberries, about a half cup of sugar (or to suit your taste) and a spoonful of orange juice concentrate straight from the freezer. Bring to a simmer and cook until it breaks down and resembles a sort of runny jam that isn’t as janny-sweet as jam, but stands in for it just as well on bagels and toast, making either reminiscent of strawberry-rhubarb pie.
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July 23 2008 | one dish and seafood and sweet stuff and vegetarian | No Comments »
It’s funny how throw-together dinners can end up sounding fancier than something you might have made an effort to plan. Tonight I had the dregs of the SoBo fruit salsa I made for CBC this morning, and a chunk of leftover salmon, and so looked up a quick chili rub, thinking that a) it was something I hadn’t done before, and b) it would give the cool, sweet fruit something to calm down. To be truthful I’m not really a fan of fruit salsa; I don’t know why, but it never really did it for me. But it went well with the salmon, and ended up getting right in there with the salad.
I sort of morphed a couple recipes I found and ended up with a paste made with 1 teaspoon each: canned chipotle chiles en adobo, chili powder, dried oregano, sugar, lime juice and olive or canola oil, a sprinkle of coarse salt and a crushed clove of garlic. (If you don’t like things spicy, leave out the chipotle or cut it back a bit - the smoky adobo sauce adds a great flavour, but I dig that most people don’t have canned chipotles on hand. I find that a can will last ages - I use a bit, then seal the rest in a ziplock baggie, freeze and chop off bits here and there when I need it.)
The paste was smeared on a salmon filet and roasted at 400F for 10 minutes - just enough time to toss a quick salad of boxed spring greens, tomato, ribbons of yellow carrot stripped off with a vegetable peeler and crumbled feta. (The what-I-had-in-the-fridge special.) There was leftover chili paste, so I froze it; I think next time I’ll smear it on a pork tenderloin.
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July 22 2008 | seafood | 1 Comment »
I realize there was nothing about today that called for baked pasta. It was 30 degrees outside by 10 am, and is still so hot I have to intermittently go outside and stand in W’s kiddie pool to cool off. But yesterday when an avalanche from the freezer almost crushed Lou it became apparent that we needed to free up some space. Even our ice cube trays were displaced, and today ice could have come in handy. So the first thing that I took out (or rather kind of fell out) was a ziplock baggie of bison and blueberries that I had cooked up before we went away. I thawed it, stirred in the last of the canned diced tomatoes from Vij’s curry, some tomato sauce sauce and boiled some whole wheat rotini. The usual Willem Chow. But then it got cold and he didn’t eat it, and I had gone and made way too much, so I left it all in the skillet, sprinkled it with some cheese and baked it just long enough to rewarm the innards and melt the cheese. I had to turn it on to bake a Key lime pie for tomorrow morning anyway, so at least we got dinner out of it.
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July 21 2008 | bison and freezable and one dish and pasta | 2 Comments »
I thought I had my simple curry recipe down just as pat as anything (although strangely enough it appears I haven’t made it yet this year) - turns out I don’t. This one is even better, and doesn’t even call for coconut milk, which is crazy high in saturated fat.
B has been trying to get me to make the chicken curry from Vij’s (one of Vancouver’s best restaurants - Indian fusion on south Granville) for weeks - he even found it online at North American Patriot (who in turn got it from the Globe and Mail) and printed off a copy for me, which has since then been sitting on my desk and now has random telephone numbers and notes scribbled around and in between the text. Every time I see him he gets so excited at the prospect of my trying it, that I don’t want to disappoint him yet again when I see him on Tuesday.
Also, we got in late last night and haven’t brought ourselves to go pick up any groceries, but I did have skinless chicken thighs in the freezer and that container of sour cream I bought before we left with the intention of making this. All that was missing was the fresh tomatoes, but some drained canned diced tomatoes stood in perfectly.
Here is the recipe - I have not messed with it. I will say though that I used about half as much oil and light sour cream instead of the regular stuff - a bit of a gamble, since lower-fat dairy products tend to separate with cooking, but it held together perfectly.
And when I went out to the garden to pluck some cilantro I found it had gone to seed in our absence, and when I reached in to yank out a weed growing up through the middle I extracted the whole lot of cilantro, so I salvaged maybe a tablespoon, far less than the requested half cup, and dispensed a bit of it over each bowl. It was still fantastic.
The 2 cups of water seemed like a lot, but wasn’t; I simmered it down a bit while the thighs cooled, since we were too hungry to let it sit for a half hour. I suspect it will improve in flavour overnight - next time I’ll treat it like chili and make it one day for the next, since it needs to cool down enough to shred the meat off the bones anyway. Not only will a little time in the fridge improve the flavours - I’m sure it would thicken the sauce as well, so that when you reheat it it’s a perfect consistency. Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow.
Vij Family’s Chicken Curry
What you need:
½ cup canola oil
2 cups finely chopped onions (2 large)
3-inch stick of cinnamon
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped ginger
2 cups chopped tomatoes (2 large)
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon garam masala
½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
3 pounds chicken thighs, bone in
1 cup sour cream, stirred
2 cups water
½ cup chopped cilantro (including stems)
What you do:
In a large pan, heat oil on medium heat for one minute. Add onions and cinnamon, and sauté for five to eight minutes, until onions are golden. Add garlic and sauté for four more minutes. Add ginger, tomatoes, salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala and cayenne. Cook this masala for five minutes, until the oil separates.
Remove and discard skin from the chicken thighs. Wash thighs and add to the masala. Stir well. Cook chicken thighs for 10 minutes, until the chicken looks cooked on the outside. Add sour cream and water and stir well. Increase the heat to medium-high. When curry starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring two or three times, until chicken is completely cooked. Poke the thighs with a knife. If the meat is still pink, cook for five more minutes. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Cool curry for at least half an hour.
Transfer cooked chicken to a mixing bowl. Wearing latex gloves, peel chicken meat off the bones. Discard bones and stir chicken back into the curry. Just before serving, heat curry on medium heat until it starts to boil lightly. Stir in cilantro.
Divide curry evenly among six bowls. Serves 6.
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July 20 2008 | chicken & turkey | 4 Comments »
Despite the fact that we only hit McDonald’s once on this road trip and Subway once on the way out, during the final stretch home we hit Golden at around dinnertime and could not bring ourselves to get fast food again - which were of course the only options on the main drag. We had been munching on the last of the car snacks, bagels, and blueberries and apricots we had picked up at roadside stands along the way (I was very disappointed to not have come across some sort of pie stand loaded down with homemade fruit pies) all afternoon, but we needed a break and something that hadn’t been rattling around the car for two days.
So rather than choose from a sad selection of drive-thrus and gas stations, I got Mike to head into town and I went into Sobey’s. A $3 cheese focaccia passed as pizza to W, who was getting fed up with this whole driving thing (in the end he ditched it after a few bites and ate two pears and a candy necklace for dinner instead), a turkey-spinach wrap that wasn’t as good as it looked, and a small container of grainy salad that was pricey at $4.50 for about a cup, but I may try to recreate at home. Here are the ingredients: quinoa, bulgur, barley, canola oil, apricots, raisins, red pepper, apple butter, apple cider vinegar, green onions, honey, salt, lime juice, parsley and garlic. Interesting, no? I never would have thought to add apple butter to a grain salad. It was really tasty, despite having that tang that salads that have been packaged for too long tend to acquire - I was disappointed to notice as we ate it that it had come from Ontario. There is no reason for a grainy salad - or any salad for that matter - to be shipped premade from Ontario to BC!
For dessert we still had beautiful fuzzy baby-bum apricots from a roadside stand, and I grabbed one of those plastic containers of precut strawberries (again, clearly not the tiny red ones from the area) and blackberries and a container of Liberté dulce de leche yogurt. Liberté is the absolute living end when it comes to yogurt - some varieties are totally extravagant at 8% butterfat (average is 1% or 2%) but makes a perfect example of it all being relative: I have friends who don’t eat it because it’s so so rich and custard-thick and high-fat, but I’d happily choose it over ice cream, which must be a minimum of 10% butterfat (and premium ice creams such as MacKays and Haagen Dazs are usually around 18%). The dolce de leche was divine, but not as mind-blowing as the mocha. I was temped to try the blackberry, which would have been great with the berries. Any kind would be a hit on fruit crumbles, crisps, pies and shortcakes. I still have to make that peach crumble - I went to the beach grocery and bought some, but they were so good we ate them as is. I haven’t had such a well-endowed, slurpy, not-a-hint-of-pulpyness peach in ages.
(Note: dulce de leche is a thick Spanish milk caramel - you can make it by sumberging an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water, bringing it to a simmer and cooking for 2 hours - replenish the water as needed to keep the can covered. Let it cool in the water and when you open it it will be a deep golden milky caramel.)
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July 19 2008 | eating out | 1 Comment »
One of these things is not like the other.
In stark contrast with last night’s fabulous SoBo exerience, today we got pulled in by McDonald’s highway tractor beam. Partly because the first thing W said when he woke up this morning was “hamburger?” and then continued to ask for one every hour until 6pm, when we finally gave in. In Hope, there aren’t many non-fast-food hamburger options, particularly with dog in tow, so used the fact that we were on a road trip as reason enough to hit McDonald’s.
Is that enough justification? I feel like I’m in cofession. Forgive me readers, for I have sinned… it has been 184 days since my last confession. We did have sufficiently healthy snacks on board for the rest of the trip - dried fruit, nuts, granola and Mandarin oranges. But at some point you just want to eat something that can’t be classified as snack food.
So I tried the new Angus burger, and at the risk of complimenting McDonald’s, they were actually pretty good. They tasted like real beef, with lots of leafy lettuce and purple onion and slices of tomato that were actually red and tasted like tomato (unlike the anaemic slices of yellow-green tomato accessorizing the burgers we had for lunch at the Wickaninnish restaurant the other day - mine was a portobello mushroom, Mike’s was salmon, and others had regular burgers - I can unfortunately say without a doubt that the McDonald’s burgers were better than those at the Wick). It was like they weren’t even in from the same restaurant, taste-wise, as Big Macs and Quarter Pounders, and astoundingly even looked like the picture on the menu board.
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July 18 2008 | eating out | 1 Comment »
You may have heard of SoBo, the eatery in Tofino everyone talks about, and likely the only little purple catering truck to make EnRoute’s Top Ten Best Restaurants (in 2003). We used to visit the truck when it was parked behind the surf shop for “killer” fish tacos, polenta fries (which I have since recreated myself with great success, and which was one of W’s favorite finger foods as a toddler) and the best Key lime pie that could possibly exist. They have since moved into an actual building without wheels, across the street from the liquor store.
When we stopped in this morning for corn bread (again, the Best Ever), they were busy squeezing row after row of golf ball-sized Key limes (named for the Florida Keys, they have a far different flavour than the Persian limes you’re probably used to seeing at the grocery store) for the Key lime pies, and I could hardly wait to go back for a late lunch, which turned out to be so massive that even now at 11 pm I’m still stuffed. But in the best possible way.
So really, it was dinner. The smoked fish chowder was possibly the best soup I’ve ever eaten - I worried that it might be too smoky. It wasn’t. It was so full of thick slabs of fish that I could have finished the bowl and called it dinner. But I had heard about the ceviche (fish finely chopped so as to almost be a salsa, and marinated in citrus juices that “cook” the fish without heat) and couldn’t leave without trying it, and if you go to SoBo it’s just a given that you get a fish taco. On the way in we spied a spectacular salad - one with soba noodles, one without, both piled with sunflower sprouts, and so we added that on too.
Lisa Ahier’s Ceviche
(pictured above - luckily this was printed in the July issue of Tofino Time)
16 oz. halibut fillet, finely diced
8 oz. spot prawns, finely diced
6 oz. scallops, finely diced
3 cups key lime juice
1 cup roma tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
1 cup red and yellow bell peppers, finely diced
1/2 cup chives, finely chopped
4 serrano chiles, finely diced
2 avocadoes, finely diced
1/2 cup cilantro, finely minced
3 tsp. salt
1/4 cup good quality extra-virgin olive oil
In a large glass bowl, combine the halibut, prawns, scallops and lime juice and let marinate for 2-3 hours. Drain and gently fold in the remaining ingredients. Serve with lettuce leaves and fresh corn chips, drizzled with a little more olive oil.
Killer Fish Tacos
(also from Tofino Time)
16 taco shells
1 lb halibut fillet,
medium diced
1 lb wild salmon fillet, medium diced
1/2 cup chipotle chiles
canned in adobo, pureed
1 cup red onion
small diced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp kosher salt
Dice the red onion and puree or finely chop the chipotles.
Dice the fish into 1-inch pieces.
Pat fish dry and season with kosher salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over moderate-high heat. Add the onions and saute them for 1 minute; add the fish and fry for about 3 minutes until just cooked. Add the chipotle chiles, stir for 1 more minute and remove from heat.
Fill taco shells halfway with fish mixture, then top with fruit salsa. Serve immediately.
Fresh Fruit Salsa
1 cup kiwi fruit, small diced
1 cup pineapple,
small diced
1 cup mango, small diced
1 cup papaya, small diced
2 avocados,
small diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
2 limes
Prepare the fruit salsa by dicing the ingredients small enough to fit into a prepared taco shell — smaller than a fruit salad, but not so small that the fruit turns to mush. Combine the fruit, avocado and cilantro. Refrigerate until ready to use. The holding time is about 24 hours as the fruit starts to break down. Also note that if you intend to prepare the salsa in advance, don’t add the avocado until immediately before serving, as avocado turns brown quickly.
But the Key lime pie. There are no words. Look at that cream. If only I could find love this pure and uncomplicated with a human being. I’ve finally discovered the secret to a strong and lasting relationship: make sure one of you is a slice of SoBo Key lime pie.
I know a SoBo cookbook is in the works, so I’m going to try to coerce Lisa to share her recipe in the meantime. Check back to see if I’m successful…
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July 17 2008 | appetizers and eating out and seafood and snacks | 8 Comments »
Halibut tonight - so fresh it was completely low-maintenance. We were all tired and hungry, wiped out from the sun and wind and covered with sand, and felt not at all like cooking dinner. My mom brushed the fish with olive oil, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and tucked lemon wedges between the slabs to keep them moist, then broiled the lot on high for a few minutes, just until the fish flaked on the edge but was still juicy in the middle. I love thick, meaty halibut, and even W ate it (granted, it was dipped in ketchup), but one of the best elements of the whole meal were the slightly charred, caramelized chunks of lemon. (Mom says as I write this: don’t forget to tell people to suck on the chunks of lemon.)
Alongside, the requisite corn on the cob, a bagged coleslaw (I think these go for around $7 in Tofino) doctored up with a grated apple and throw-together dressing of low fat mayo and grainy mustard, and a lemon meringue pie that I confess was made out of a Sherriff’s pie filling mix I found in the cupboard of the snug (the teeny shack that was on the property when they bought it, which they have been shacking up in for the past year or so) and a purchased Keebler crust. That’s the thing about cabin cooking - you don’t always have the equipment nor the gumption to make elaborate meals, but there’s really no need to. Fruit crumbles are generally my dessert/breakfast of choice, requiring no more than a knife, fork and some sort of ovenproof pan - this is my plan for tomorrow, using peaches from the beach grocery down the road, and then topped with vanilla yogurt. I’m also hoping to ditch W with Grandma and Grandad and sneak off to SoBo.
Here’s another example of by-the-seat-of-your-pants cooking: this afternoon I pulled together some emergency chocolate rations for the troops, when the cupboards were limited in terms of baking ingredients and Hugo can’t eat dairy or flour. The solution was so obvious it almost seemed silly: a bag of dark chocolate chips (or a bashed up chocolate bar, or leftover Easter bunnies, it doesn’t matter where the chocolate comes from) melted on low heat, and then any number of ingredients stirred in and the mixture dropped by the spoonful onto foil to cool. Like those old chow mein noodle clusters, or the peanut-chocolate clusters my mother in law makes that we always roll our eyes at and then devour the entire plate of. There’s a very upscale chocolaterie in New York that sells dark chocolate-covered Corn Flake clusters, and I have seen many a variety of ultra-expensive chocolate-covered potato chips (usually Pringles, it seems) that are, I think, always disappointing. I was going to stir in some of my homemade granola, but there is also a pecan allergy in our midst.
So. Into the chocolate went Rice Krispies, lightly crushed thick-cut plain salted potato chips (ever had chocolate and salt? how to satisfy a plethora of cravings at once - melty, crunchy, chocolatey, sweet and salty) and a handful of golden raisins, just because that’s what was in the cupboard and what no one was allergic to. They were fab. Next time I might stick to one thing at a time - just granola, or chips, or Corn Flakes, or pretzel sticks.
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July 16 2008 | seafood | 1 Comment »
I think I was hoping for some sort of uber-karmic outdoor experience way out here in Tofino, with relaxed meals plucked from the land and sea and leisurely prepared with my mom and sisters after an afternoon on the beach or in the kayak, with no agenda and no deadlines and no TV news headlines in the background. Almost. Being out in a not-quite-finished house with 12 other people who have their own moods and agendas and allergies and appetites presents new dinnertime obstacles altogether. And a whole lot more dishes.
So tonight’s dinner was plucked from the Co-op; hot dogs and bison smokies, because last night’s fire roused my appetite for charred hot dogs roasted on a stick. (Also because the stairs were being finished, meaning we were all kicked out of the house for a couple hours starting at around 5.) I made a big batch of chili in the slow cooker before we came out here, froze it and it made the trip, still frozen, in an insulated bag. It’s great to have something anyone can dip into anytime they need something warm and healthy to eat.
On the upside, my camera seems to have pulled itself out of its depression and is working again, sort of. A holiday miracle considering how much sand is in its crevices. It’s rainy today, so I may spend the aftenoon trying to get them off the camera, onto the computer and ultimately here.
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July 16 2008 | leftovers | 1 Comment »
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