How Do You Keep It So Clean??

Q. Mom, how old is your stove?

A. I don't know, more than 10 years. Maybe 11 or 12 years old.

Q. Mom, how do you keep it so clean? It looks like it just came out of the factory.

A. The first rule is you clean it immediately after each time you use it or something drops on it. Otherwise, it will get stuck and you'd never be able to take the dirt off.

(mental note to self - hmmm, how long would it take me to clean the stove as soon as I finish cooking? Not too long when you think of it)

Q. What else do you do to keep it looking so new?

A. When you are using one head to fry or cook something that will splatter everywhere, take everything off the stove and cover the other heads with foil paper. Once you're done, clean the stove and put all back.

(mental note to self - a bit of work, but worth it)

 Q. How about the oven? It's sparkling.

A. You keep a foil sheet at the base - those are all over Canada, so you don't have an excuse. Then, just like the stove top, you clean the inside of the oven after each use.

(mental note to self - even my self clean does not do such a good job; I should try this technique)

Q. Is this toaster oven new?

A. This is as old as the stove; over 10 years old.

Q. And how do you keep it so clean? Let me guess, clean after each use.

A. And cover the tray with foil paper before using.

(mental note to self - I better change my post cooking habits drastically). 

Q. Should I put the laundry away?

A. No, these are just taken off the drying line, I still need to fold them.

(mental note to self - this is a laundry tip that will triple the time spent on laundry - ignore/delete).

Cooking in Heat Waves Tips

July 1 is not only Canada Day, it is the time when heat waves start hitting. During heat waves, somerville kitchen slows down given that cooking a simple meal can raise the house temperature by 1.5 degrees and a more sophisticated meal by at least 3 degrees. The best way to manage this is to bring out the toys.

Slow cooker on the lowest heat can make a perfect meal with no change to the house temperature.

Even if you don't have a BBQ, those electric grills can grill any kebab and, if used, outside, keep the house temperature intact.

Bread machines are perfect - bake breads and cakes, gain the smell but loose the house temperature raising of conventional baking.

Finally, for one reason or another, no matter how long you use it, those little machines do not impact house temperatures.
 

The Story of A Grape Vine - Part A

The jardin grape vine is loving our summer weather this year and taking over the jardin.

It was time for some chop chop.

But nothing goes to waste at somerville kitchen.

At the same time, rolling all those leaves to make Mehshi Warak will take all week and not enough neighbours to feed.

Well, mother's advice came in handy - freeze them.

And the production begun. All the leaves were separated from the vines, washed and were ready for storage.

 

Last year I experimented with freezing grape vine leaves. I froze a batch fresh and another one blanched.

Kitchen Tip 1: Never freeze grape vine leaves fresh.

Kitchen Tip 2: How to blanch grape vine leaves. 

Easy. Boil water in a pot.

Add a batch of leaves. Let them blanch for 30 seconds, flip over and blanch for another 30 seconds. Take out and let dry.

Amazing how quickly the colour turns (and then turns dark green again once you cook them).



Pack in freezer bags and I am now fully stocked up with frozen fresh grape vine leaves. Anyone wants to join for Mehshi Warak soon?

Gearing Up For The New Year

Why buy sodium filled chickpeas cans when you can have as many as 12 cans prepared from scratch in your own kitchen.

Sprinkle dry chickpeas with baking soda and soak overnight. Boil until cooked then store with no liquid in containers and freeze. They can be defrosted in a bit of boiling water in a minute.

"Alleyeh" is a key ingredient in Lebanese Stews.

It can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. Simply crush garlic and chop cilantro. Cook garlic in olive oil, add the cilantro and cook for few seconds until wilted. Cool and freeze. 

You can then chop a chunk off when need to use it.

Real orange blossom water is made from the blossoms themselves. Given how involved the process is, a bottle of real orange blossom water can run in the $50 range.

But how come we can buy it for less than $10 in stores in Vancouver? Well, those are the cheaper versions; made of orange trees' leaves, not blossoms. They are less potent and lighter in colour.

I usually get a couple of bottles every time I visit Lebanon. But now I have a jar of dried orange blossoms from Iran.

A tsp of dried blossoms boiled in a cup of water for 30 minutes can produce a close-enough version of the authentic orange blossom water.

A new trick I learnt about making vegetable broth.

Cook unpeeled onions and other vegetables you are using for the broth in a bit of oil. Add parsley and herbs, a bay leave and water then simmer for an hour to an hour and a half.

The broth freezes well.

The Real Ghormah Sabzie

Earlier this summer I attempted making one of my favourite Iranian dishes, Ghormeh Sabzie (read about my failed attempt here).

Luckily, a dear Iranian friend took pity on me and prepared an Iranian feast with a made-from-scratch Ghormeh Sabzie.

The dish is a herb stew made with fenugreek (main herb), parsley, cilantro, tarragon and Iranian chives (tareh). It is cooked for hours with meat, kidney beans and Iranian limes.

Not only delicious, but those herbs leave a serene feeling flowing through your body.

Iranian rice is another delicacy that I have never mastered. 

The process is complex (read Iranian Rice). More complex is getting the layer of potatoes underneath the rice come out so perfect and crunchy.

Covered with Iranian saffron, this just perfected the Ghormeh experience.

Served with Iranian salad (Iranians' ability to chop vegetables so small amazes me), herbs and home made pickled shallots.

Along the way, I learnt a new trick to de-seed pomegranate.

Kitchen Tip
Cut the pomegranate in half. With a metal ladle, knock on the pomegranate's outside all around, then hammer it with the ladle.

The seeds just perfectly drop off.


Those were used over Iranian Ice Cream to wrap up a most pleasant evening with a sweet and sour dessert.

  

 Thank you my dear Iranian Friend.

Diner Dinner @ somerville kitchen

Replacement Chef turned somerville kitchen tonight into a diner with club sandwich (+French Fries and Coleslaw) and doughnuts. 
Along the way, Replacement Chef discovered a brilliant no mess way to prepare crispy bacon.

Kitchen Tip
Lay the bacon on foil paper on cooking sheet. Put in a cold oven then turn the heat to 400. Keep there for a total of 20 minutes. 

They came out perfect - crispy, flat and delicious. Most impressive that there were no stoves and pans to clean - just throw away the foil paper.

For chicken, a perfect product discovery, Lilydale Carved Chicken breasts.

Those are pre oven cooked and carved, no preservatives, and taste amazing - ideal for club sandwich production.

The production begun. Every inch and corner of the toast was covered with mayonnaise; lettuce and jardin tomato added on top and a delicious three story club sandwich was served.




But wait, dinner party not over as Replacement Chef connections fly in with this.

Probably the best of the doughnuts' craze hitting Vancouver, Lucky's Doughnuts does it well. The collection included old fashioned pistachio, mango, chocolate, salted caramel, glazed and a crawler. Guess which were my favourites?

Lucky's Doughnuts

2902 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

www.luckysdoughnuts.com

 Thank You Replacement Chef and Your Doughnut Calming Connection.

Freezing Jardin Crop

Beautiful jardin grape vine growing out of hand this year. The leaves are so healthy and will make perfect stuffed vine leaves.

But I am too busy to make it this week. So rather than drying leaves on branches, why not freeze them?

Online research on how to freeze them was non-conclusive  - some say blanch and freeze, others say freeze fresh.

None better than a call to mom to break the tie.

Mom's advice was to blanch them first (and you should always listen to your mom). Here's how:

- Bring a bit of water to a boil

- Throw in a bunch of leaves together; they start changing colour pretty quick

- Within couple of seconds, turn them around then take them out.

According to mom, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, you can lay them in freezer bags and freeze them.

A nice batch gone into the freezer. 

But the research geek in me was tempted with an experimental design of freezing a sample fresh.That went into the freezer too.



So which one should I defrost first? 

Let me know. Who knows, you may be invited to dine on them as a thank you.

Know It All Quiche

Regular blog followers would have certainly came across Replacement Chef.

Replacement Chef comes to the rescue cooking and/or providing kitchen tips. 

And no, it is not cats. But since my blog contract does not allow showing human faces (body parts are allowed), cats was stuck as the face.

Replacement Chef's key starting question always is: What do you have in the fridge?

somerville kitchen best wood supplier ever recently surprised the kitchen with a flat of fresh, large, delicious eggs.

This triggered a revelation that Replacement Chef makes excellent quiche, what was self-described as Know it All Quiche.

A full survey followed as to what other ingredients I have in the fridge.

Four left-over bacon pieces came in handy.

Onions next - "you can never have too many onions, they always disappear. Cook them good, you'd never know they are there but they give great taste".

Since when do people put garlic in a quiche?

"Yes, you put garlic in quiche, lots of it. Don't be afraid of garlic, the strong taste will cook away."

But 5 cloves??

Vegetables were added to the mix, but two things stopped Replacement Chef in thought.

First, it was not colourful; "tomato is a waste to throw in since it will disappear, but we need the colour".

And the pan too small; "you can't be afraid to interact with the food; you need a big pot or you are asking for trouble. This way you can spread it all out, it will cook faster and you can keep the bottom of the pan free."

Keeping the bottom of the pan free, according to Replacement Chef, also allows you to keep mixing back in what is stuck to the bottom since that is where all the flavour is.

Beautiful and flavourful it sure was.

But wait, can't eat yet (Oh no, I am starving).

Sour cream and fresh jardin dill were whipped together, and sprinkled with lemon rinds.

Freshly grated parmesan cheese was sprinkled with fresh jardin thyme.

And voila, this is what showed up for dinner - a fully decorated, extremely tasty quiche that no restaurant in Paris can come close to.

Thank you Replacement Chef!

   

But wait, dinner is not over yet. 

The beautiful dinner was wrapped up with a jardin-inspired dessert.

Picked off the tree 2 minutes earlier, jardin raspberries nestled over a base of yogurt and whipped cream and sprinkled with lemon rinds and fresh jardin mint.

Guess this deserves a second Thank you Replacement Chef.

(and cats and jardin)