Wednesday, April 22, 2009

cooking on earth day

Sweet Curried Carrot Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp thai red curry paste
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 apple, peeled and diced
5 carrots, peeled and diced
6 cups water
1 bouillon cube
1 can coconut milk
more coconut milk and arugula to garnish

Saute onions in olive oil for 5 minutes, until soft. Add garlic, ginger and curry paste, stir and cook for a few more minutes. Add sweet potatoes, apple, carrots, water and bouillon cube. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Puree in a food processor or with an immersion blender. Add coconut milk, and heat for 5 more minutes. Serve with a spoonful of coconut milk and a few pieces of arugula.

*Note: Clearly, I spent earth day cooking. What better thing to do than to cook up some tasty food with some local, organic produce? Onions, garlic, sweet potato, apples and carrots, all from less than 100 miles away. I remade my last recipe - the cornbread quiche - because it was just so good.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

wonderful experiments!


Cornbread Quiche

Here's some almost-local quiches. I used gluten-free cornbread from Dufferin Grove market (locally made, some non-local ingredients). The wild garlic and mushrooms come from just outside of Toronto, and eggs, yogurt and feta cheese are available from numerous organic farms around the GTA all year round.

*Note - this makes 4 mini quiches. They keep well for a few days in the refrigerator, and reheat in the toaster oven.

4 slices of cornbread
4 tsp olive oil, more for sauteing
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 stalk wild garlic, minced
3 eggs
1/2 plain 3% yogurt
1/4 crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. This is a three part recipe. First, the vegetables. Saute the mushrooms and wild garlic in some olive oil in a pan. 

While the vegetables cook, make the crust: oil four muffin tins with olive oil. Press slices of cornbread into muffin tin, creating 4 mini crusts. Don't worry about crumbling or squishing the cornbread - just mold and press, then cook for 3 minutes. 

Meanwhile, the custard: combine the eggs, yogurt, feta, salt and pepper in a bowl. Whisk with a fork. 

Combine everything: take the crusts out of the oven, fill with mushrooms, then top with the egg mixture, and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the egg is set. Remove from the muffin tins.

You could really make these with any vegetable filling you like, or switch up the cheese! Say, tomatoes and basil with mozzarella, or broccoli and cheddar. Also, you could try using plain old whole wheat bread, or even filo pastry for the crust. 

Thursday, April 16, 2009

100-mile salad


Here's an easy salad for spring. It's all 100-mile (sans dressing and olives), and can be all year long, using Ontario greenhouse cucumbers and tomatoes. I can't wait to make this with the Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes and Marketmore Cucumbers from my garden. The feta cheese I used was this delicious stuff I found at Dufferin Grove Market today. Other purchases? Gluten-free corn bread (best darn gluten free bread I've ever had), 3-bean sprout mix, and wild garlic!

Mediterranean Salad
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, diced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
big handful of kalamata olives, pitted and halved
crumbled feta (however much or little you want)
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 or 3 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
 
Combine all the vegetables and feta. Sprinkle with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Keeps well for a day or two in the fridge. I served my leftovers on top of a big handful of sprouts - there's more than enough dressing to go around, especially after the tomatoes have been marinating for a day. 

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

more beets...


I swear this is the last post about beets. I roasted a bunch to put in salad, but instead, I found this recipe from Seasonal Ontario Food. I'm finally using up the last of the cranberries I had frozen in the fall. This is my favorite new recipe since... well, in the past few weeks, and I have been cooking a LOT. My favorite part about thanksgiving is the cranberry sauce, and this recipe is definitely healthier than the usual way I get my cranberry fix - eating leftover sauce in spoonfuls, straight from the fridge. The beets, apples and cranberries go great together. It's delicious hot or cold.

Cranberry Apple Beets

4 or 5 cooked beets
1 cup frozen cranberries
2 apples, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp grated ginger
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice

Peel and dice beets. Put in a pot with all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes, until the cranberries pop and everything is softened to your liking. Eat!