Brain dead at the end of the week with a somewhat empty fridge was a challenge. I took out all I had, laid it out on the counter and still no inspiration.
Suddenly, a virtual angel in the name of Super Cook (www.supercook.com) showed up.
Specifically, you enter all the ingredients you have in your fridge in the easy to use supercook.com and voila, recipes using most, if not all, of the ingredients you specified. Based on the website's suggested recipes, tonight's creation a smiley face - fried eggs over vegetable hash next to perogies.
Tomorrow is Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in many parts of the world. While I am not going to pretend that tonight's meal is anywhere near what an Orthodox Christmas eve dinner is all about, I tried to create some food in the spirit of the typical meal for this occasion.
What I read and know says that such a meal always includes different grains.
Coincidentally enough, in Lebanon, Christians have this grain dish on the night of the Epiphany, which is tonight as well - a platter of hot cooked barley wheat, sprinkled with almonds, pine nuts and raisins with sugar and, typically Lebanese, orange blossom water.
An Orthodox Christmas meal does not include any meats or dairy, but fish, dumplings and soups are common parts of the meal. My version included pickled herring, borscht with raisin bread, and blueberry perogies. Simple, tasty, and definitely more healthy than any traditional Christmas meal.
Merry Christmas!
Steaks for dinner, but should they be served with mashed potatoes or French fries? "Why not experiment with roasted potatoes" says my dinner guest, "they are as crunchy as fries, healthier and last longer as leftovers".
And so the experiment began - potatoes with fresh rosemary, sprinkled with salt and a bit of oil, ready to be roasted. The experiment worked to a certain extent. Some of the learning for next time:
- cut potatoes in larger chunks
- mix with enough oil (but do not over do it)
- put parchment paper on the tray to make sure they don't stick and collapse when you turn them around
The second experiment was the green beans. I wanted to try a new approach so I found this recipe where you toss the almonds in oil for 1 minute, then add some garlic until lightly browned. Add the green beans with enough water to cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Excellent results!
These delicious sweets were described in a taste test as "surprisingly light, very delicate, the pecans are really good and the mini cheese cake is very flavourfull. You can taste the freshness in the fruit but it is freaky how perky the raspberries are".
These sweets were a gift from a Kerrisdale bakery called Sweet e's. I can't wait to visit it myself.
Beyond stove, fridge and dishwasher, somerville kitchen appliances are limited to a food processor, hand held blender and a bread maker. And I love the bread maker. In addition to making bread, it is very handy to prepare pizza dough.
Those of you who own one can throw in 1 cup water, 3 cups flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 3 Tbs sugar, 1.5 Tbs butter, 1.5 Tbs dry milk and you have a very practical and tasty pizza dough.
Tonight's pizza was Hawaiian - pizza sauce, ham, canned pineapples and cheese. All loved it, specially the neighbour's cat.
Looking for a new year's resolution for healthy eating? Why don't you consider going raw vegan. I have had the pleasure of catching up during the holidays with a dear friend who went raw vegan and learned a lot about this diet.
The premise is you eat healthy by not only skipping animal products but also keeping the essence of all non animal products by eating them raw, dehydrated, or cooked at a temperature below 115 degrees F.
The meals can be large bowls of salads or you can get real sophisticated and let your imagination go wild. Some raw vegan twists of dishes we know include:
- Shredded zucchini instead of pasta, with blended tomatoes, onions and mushrooms as sauce over it
- Humus with zucchini instead of chick peas - simply use a food processor to blend zucchini slices with the rest of the ingredients to make humus
- Baba Ghanouj where eggplants are sliced thin and frozen overnight, thawed and having the water squeezed out of them to become a similar texture to grilled eggplants used in this dish
Raw vegans can also enjoy a variety of restaurant options, at least in Vancouver. Two popular raw vegan spots are Gorilla Food on Richards Street (www.gorillafood.com) or Organic Lives on Quebec Street (http://organiclives.org). But with both restaurants closed over the holidays, we had to improvise and the closest we got to raw vegan options was:
With freshly squeezed juices, tabouleh and Fatoush, we managed to have an enjoyable filling and tasty raw vegan lunch.
Thank you JE!
Nuba has three locations in Vancouver (www.nuba.ca). More on Nuba at an earlier somerville kitchen post How Authentic is Nuba
somerville kitchen starts 2011 with over 4000 page views in the blog's first five months with visitors from 24 countries around the world! Thank you all for your support and following. somerville kitchen in 2011 will feature more of the usual as well as new features including foreign correspondents and somerville kitchen on Facebook!
Contest - Become a Facebook Friend and Win
Yes, you can now become a friend of somerville kitchen on Facebook (profile is somerville kitchen). The first three people who become both a friend of somerville kitchen on Facebook and a public follower of this blog will each win 2 small bags of Shaktea's loose teas of your choice (see selection at Teas at Shaktea). Current followers, you can just become friends on Facebook and qualify. You don't have to be in Vancouver to participate, we can ship the teas of your choice anywhere in the world!
Thank you all and happy new year!
