Celeriac & Asparagus Soup

With some left over celeriac kicking around from a salad I made last week this soup resulted. This is not a diet soup by any means, but it is one of those soups that is thick and creamy due only to the mass of the vegetables. When I make vegetable puree based soups I do a taste test to see if a splash of cream would enhance the soup or not. In this case I found it sufficiently creamy. I did have some truffle infused olive oil sitting in the pantry so I decided to drizzle each portion with a little.

Celeriac & Asparagus Soup

• 15 ml / 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 500 ml / 2 cups celeriac, peeled and cubed
• 1 l / 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 branch fresh thyme
• 15 large stalks asparagus, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• small splash hot sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• garnish with truffle oil or olive oil infused with truffle (the second is cheaper by far but less flavorful)

In a large saucepan heat olive oil over medium low heat. Add onion, celeriac and thyme and cook, stirringly occasionally, until celeriac and onion begin to brown and a fork passes easily through celeriac. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the asparagus and cook until asparagus is just cooked through (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool slightly. With a fork remove the thyme branch. Puree in batches in a blender until smooth. The asparagus will leave small green flecks, because it has not been overcooked and is still a vibrant green. Add the hot sauce and season to taste. This soup should be heated only when you intend to eat it, and then removed from heat in order to preserve the bright green color. Garnish with oil.

Spring Quiche & Salad

Last week a friend of mine gave me six precious eggs laid by her hens. The eggs were a mix of blue, green and brown eggs. At the time of my visit it was the first day that all six hens had laid an egg since winter started! Forgive me for only remembering that at least 2 of her hens are Ameraucanas. Ameraucanas are Easter Eggers, because they have the blue egg gene. They lay blue and green eggs.

So what to do with these lovely eggs? How about a quiche.

Asparagus Romano Cheese Quiche
serves 6

• 1 pie crust recipe
• 1 25 cm / 10 inch pie plate
• 8 large eggs
• large splash of milk
• 1 bunch of asparagus, (about 2 cups cut up), trimmed and cut in 5 mm (1/4 inch slices)
• 125 ml / 1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
• pinch of fresh thyme
• 5 ml / 1 tsp hot sauce or pinch of cayenne
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

The recipe link for the pie dough above yields 2 23 cm / 9 inch disks, but make one disk slightly larger to fill a 25 cm /10 inch pie plate. The other can be tightly wrapped and frozen for another recipe.

I pre-bake my crust when I have time. If you do not have time the only real difference is that the crust will be less golden (but cooked nonetheless).

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Roll out the dough and fit to the pie plate. Decorate the edges if you like. Fit the plate containing dough with parchment paper and then weigh it down with pie weights (or dried beans, uncooked rice etc...), and cook in the center of the oven for 15 minutes. Remove parchment paper and weights,and let cool slightly before adding egg mixture.

In a large bowl whisk eggs and milk until well blended. Add the cheese, asparagus, thyme, hot sauce and season with salt and pepper. Stir to blend. Gently pour egg mixture into pie crust and cook on the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes* or until center is just set. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

*Add 15 minutes if the crust is not bre-baked!

The asparagus will be perfectly cooked and although this is not a rich quiche the combination of Romano cheese and asparagus make this quiche a delicious spring time main course. This recipe would fit well in a more decadent Easter menu or as a weekday vegetarian dinner.

I served this quiche with a Celeriac & Cabbage salad. As the year of the vegetable continues around here I am forging ahead with the goal of adding a larger variety of vegetables to the menu. Celeriac is a economical low starch root vegetable also known as celery root. I bought a medium size celeriac last week, and have used it in 2 salads, thus far, and there is still 1/3 left! I think I will make a soup with the remainder of the celeriac.

Celeriac & Cabbage Salad
serves 6

• 500 ml / 2 cups green cabbage, julienned
• 500 ml / 2 cups celeriac, peeled and julienned
• 1 sweet pepper, julienned
• 1/2 english cucumber, julienned
  
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• splash of maple syrup
• juice of half a lemon
• splash of white balsamic vinegar
  
• splash of extra virgin olive oil
• salt an pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients in a large bowl, and let stand at room temperature for about half an hour before serving. If I had parsley I would have chopped some up and thrown it in.

Vegetarian Singapore Noodles

Here is a vegetarian dish for a rushed week night dinner. The source, once again, is Canadian Living Magazine (March 2011), but I have made many adjustments. Including adding the snow peas and red peppers for the last 2 minutes or so of cooking, and not for the full 7 minutes the recipe recommends. This is the year of the vegetable for us, and so I doubled the amount of cabbage in the recipe. Even so the cabbage was hard to spot once the noodles were added. The cabbage originally called for was napa, but I choose a smaller, but very similar cabbage that was labeled Chinese cabbage. It seems they are both a type of Chinese cabbage. I also cooked the tofu separately so that it would remain crispy. Singapore noodles make great leftovers as they re-heat well, and the curry flavour is stronger the next day.

Vegetarian Singapore Noodles

• 225 g / 8 oz rice stick noodles
• 43 ml / 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 30 ml / 2 tbsp sugar
• 50 ml / 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 225 g / 8 oz firm tofu, large dice
• 1 l / 4 cups Chinese cabbage, sliced thinly
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 20 ml / 4 tsp curry powder
• 7.5 ml / 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin and coriander
• large pinch salt and pepper
• 1 red pepper, sliced thinly
• 120 g / 4 oz snow peas, julienned
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 50 ml / 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped

In a large bowl soak rice noodles in warm water until softened, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sugar and 3/4 cup water. Set aside.

In a wok, heat half of oil over medium-high heat, and stir fry tofu until golden and crispy on all sides. Remove and strain on paper towel. Set aside.

In cleaned wok, heat remaining half of oil over medium-high heat, and stir fry cabbage, and garlic for 2 minutes. Add curry powder, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper, and stir fry 1 minute more.

Stir in the soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Stir in noodles and cook for 5 minutes while stirring. Add crispy tofu, red pepper and snow pea,s and stir fry for 2 minutes more or until noodles are tender. Sprinkle with green onions and peanuts and serve.

I did not intend to make so many adjustements to the dish, and perhaps people would be interested in Canadian Living's version so here it is.

2011: Year of The Vegetable

No low fat steamed chicken breast recipe to start of the New Year I am afraid. I want to be honest and say that we are eating as usual here and I am trying to ignore my deep seated desire to diet after the holidays. I would like to be slim and trim for my 40Th, but I am pretty happy with the way I am now and a tiny waist is just not in my future. What I would like to change this year is the variety of vegetables that I serve my family. I prepare steamed broccoli for dinner pretty much every few days, because it is a dark green vegetable both my kids will eat. We are defiantly in a vegetable rut and I intend to get us out. I also need to seriously up my own intake. On crazy busy days I won't have had a vegetable or fruit before dinner time. I would never feed my kids this way so I am going to try and take better care of myself, and of course lead by example.

On that note I am posting my simple Chickpea Vegetable Curry recipe. I have been serving it for years on a regular basis. The original recipe comes from a friend of mine, Karen Chopko, whom I met at cooking school. She is now a private Vegan chef. Bizarrely my kids never seem very excited about my chickpea curry, but it's the one meal where both my veggie lover and meat lover eat everything.

Chickpea and Vegetable Curry
serves 4-6

• 2 medium onions, sliced
• sufficient quantity canola oil
• 30 ml / 2 T curry powder
• 5 ml / 1 t turmeric
• 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 stalks celery, peeled and diced
• 1 large or 2 medium zucchini, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 ml / 1 t fresh ginger, minced
  
• 540 ml / 19 fl oz diced tomatoes
• 398 ml / 14 fl oz coconut milk
• 540 ml / 19 fl oz canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
• salt to taste

In a large saute pan over medium heat cook the onions in the canola oil until caramelized (15 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add the carrots and celery and saute until tender (5 minutes). Add the 2 spices and stir to coat , cooking for 1 minute. Add the zucchini, garlic and ginger and saute for 1 minute more. Add the diced tomato and coconut milk. Bring the curry to a gentle simmer and let cook for 45 minutes. Add the chickpeas and heat through. Season with salt and serve with rice and/or nan bread. Sprinkle generously with coriander. Serve with nan and/or basmati rice.

250 ml / 1 cup of peas or corn kernels could be added along with the chickpeas. Also left over cooked potatoes work well. Just dice them first.

On another note Barney's Version is out in theaters and I am proud to say I was the food stylist for most of the Montreal scenes (involving food of course), including: The wedding to wife #2 at the Ritz Carlton as well as 2 different occasions in the dining room. I also provided the food for scenes taking place at the Montreal institution Moishes, and at a private club, as well as in a private home where scenes revolved around brunch. I love that the food had to span several decades. It's fun to go all out and not be constrained by today's minimalist food presentation. It was also a treat to be able to watch Paul Giamatti and Dusitin Hoffman do their stuff. Scott Speedman, who I had an enormous crush on when he was on Felicity, is an underrated actor who was incredibly friendly and gracious on set. I cannot wait to go see the film!

VEGGIE PATE

I first made this pate when working as a Chef in the kitchen of a health food store. I replaced the whole wheat flour with spelt flour, and all the ingredients were organic. It was really quiet good and appealed to vegetarians and meat eaters alike. I kind of think of veggie pate as stuffing that you spread. My son has a confirmed allergy to sunflowers and every store bought veggie pate I have come across contains sunflowers seeds. I made this pate with pumpkin seeds, but go ahead and use sunflower seeds if you like. The following recipes makes 2 loaves. When the pate loaves have cooled I divide one loaf in fourths and freeze it for future use. We ate one for lunch the other day with visiting family and it went quickly. I served it with pita bread, sliced onions, tomatoes, avocado and a miso dressing. One thing I could kick myself for is that I used yellow carrot for this recipe instead of orange thus removing the pate's photogenic orange flecks. Oh well! It still taste good.

VEGGIE PATE

• 250 ml / 1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• 125 ml / 1/2 cup spelt flour (or whole wheat flour)
• 125 ml / 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 2.5 ml / 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 125 ml / 1/2 cup canola oil
• 30 ml / 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 potato, peeled and sliced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 375 ml / 1 1/2 cups water
• 2.5 ml / 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2.5 ml / 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 2.5 ml / 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 2.5 ml / 1/2 teaspoon dried savory
• 2.5 ml / 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2.5 ml / 1/2 teaspoon ground dried mustard

Pre-heat oven to 180 C / 350 F.

Lightly grease 2 loaf pans. In a food processor chop seeds until crumbly. Add remaining ingredients and blend until almost smooth. Pour or spoon into loaf pans and bake in the center of the oven for about one hour. At this point you have a slightly firm but spreadable pate. For a drier pate continue to cook for up to 30 minutes more being careful not to let the pate burn. * Let cool and serve.

*You could also serve this pate warm in thick slices like a vegetarian meatloaf.

Sunflower sprouts, miso dressing, tomato and avocado slices,
and of course the pate all on sliced spelt bread.

Vegetarian Burger

Tomorrow I am off with my family for 2 weeks to a cottage on Lake Huron at the base of the Bruce Peninsula. I have been going there in summer, quiet literally, since I was a fetus. It may be the most beautiful place in Canada. I have been to the Rockies, the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and everywhere in between, and I have never seen anything like it.

We will be staying with my father who has been a vegetarian for over 30 years. So I thought it was time to crack open the old Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook and get my carnivore brain thinking about yummy alternatives. I tried the Mushroom pecan burger recipe although I used almonds instead of pecans, and I passed the lot through my Kitchen aid robot (food processor), so that no mushrooms would be visible to the naked eye as my kids are not fond of mystery chunks and neither likes mushrooms. What I got was a very tasty vegetarian burger.

Mushroom pecan burgers
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp dried thyme
4 cups chopped cremini or other mushrooms
1/3 cup toasted pecans
2 tsp soya sauce
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 cup cooked brown rice
3/4 cup rolled oats
1tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp miso
1 cake firm tofu, pressed 16 oz
salt and black pepper to taste

• Pre-heat the oven to 350. Generously oil baking sheet.
• In a medium skillet, saute the onions in the oil. Cook on medium heat until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the herbs and mushrooms. Cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Spoon the mushroom mixture into a bowl. Add the pecans, soy sauce, bread crumbs, rice, oats, dill and miso. Mix in the tofu mashing it with your hands or a potato masher. Add salt and pepper and mix well.
• Shape the mixture into six round patties and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Serve on toast or in a bun.

I was able to make 9 medium patties. I blended all the ingredients in my food processor as I mentioned and this may have made it easier to grill the burgers without having them fall apart. I grilled them in a grill pan and then finished them off in the oven (about 15 minutes).

I served the burgers with brown rice salad and green beans and froze 4 patties to bring with us so that my dad can enjoy a BBQ with out getting stuck with 3 kinds of salad.

While making the brown rice for the burgers I made extra to use in a cold salad.

Quick Brown rice salad:
Cooked brown rice, cucumber, onion & tomato diced, squeeze of lemon, olive oil, finely chopped garlic & salt and pepper. I really wanted to put some fresh dill in but my kids do not like green bits...sigh.

The littlest carnivore approves the veggie burger

On another note I hope to find some Edamame (soybeans) at the grocery store where we are visiting because I love them and just recently read that they are considered very high quality protein which means that soybeans contain:

...the nine essential amino acids the body needs to build the proteins that help maintain muscle, bone and organs. Unlike most amino acids, these nine can't be generated by our bodies, so they have to come from food.

David L. Katz, MD July 2009 The Oprah Magazine

I would like to find some interesting ways to incorporate them into meals. And I think my dad would appreciate a higher quality source of protein considering he rarely eats eggs or dairy products either.

Below is a salad from Eating well that is a nutritional powerhouse:

Warm Quinoa salad with Edamame & Tarragon

I will not be able to post while I am away but when I am back I will be preparing and revealing the Daring Baker challenge. It will be my first and I am excited! Until June 25Th!

Ratatouille and Creamy Polenta

It is very sunny outside today as it was yesterday, but also extremely chilly. It just does not feel like spring yet and my menu for the beginning of this week reflects it. I am also sticking to soft foods due to my daughter's trouble with her incoming molars (which make it painful for her to eat). Tonight we are having pan fried tilapia with ratatouille and creamy polenta. Here is a recipe for ratatouille and creamy polenta:

Creamy Parmesan Polenta

Basic Ratatouille