the caesar: redux

At the camp I work at every summer, myself and my fellow counsellors have a mascot. He's a stuffed lobster, and he sings 'Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot' when you squeeze his claw. Many inside jokes aside, we decided to create a cocktail that might reflect Pinchy's tastes (yes, the lobster's name is Pinchy). Then we went a little nuts and created not one, but two deluxe cocktails. Here's the first one.

A note: I'm not a big caesar person. Did you know the second ingredient in Clamato is glucose/fructose? And there's that clam juice issue, not to mention the MSG. I also hate vodka. So caesars aren't looking so great for me. However, I love the idea of a vegetable-based cocktail, something with a fancy salt rim and endless possibilities for garnishes!

Here it is: a truffle salt rim, pickle juice, sriracha, gin, a tomato juice base, and enough garnishes to keep you snacking throughout the whole drink. It's not a casear anymore - which means it's my kind of caesar.

The Garden Pinchy
Makes four delicious cocktails.

1 lime
1/4 cup truffle salt
juice from pickle jar
sriracha sauce
8 oz. gin
4 cups tomato juice
8 olives
4 dill pickle spears
toothpicks and tiny umbrellas for garnish
4 tall rocks glasses
Ice

Cut the lime into 8 wedges - the bartender way. Cut it in half, lengthwise, then make a 1/2 inch cut into each side, crosswise. Then, slice each half into 4 wedges. You should have a handful of wedges with a small cut in them, so you can easily slide them on the edge of a glass. Set four aside for garnish.

On each glass, take a lime wedge and run it around the rim. Pour the truffle salt in a saucer, and twist each glass in the salt, creating a salt rim. Toss a handful of ice in each glass. Pour a splash of pickle juice in each glass. Next, add a tiny bit of sriracha to each glass. Add 2 oz of gin to each, and top up with 1 cup of tomato juice. Stir each glass to combine. Stick a pickle spear in each glass, add a few olives on a toothpick, an umbrella, and a lime wedge.

Too much garnish? You can tone it down if you like, but I like snacks built into my beverages. It's like a salad in a glass.

homemade ketchup

why bother? because it's sooooo delicious. Since there's so much acidity- tomatoes, vinegar - it will keep for around a month in your fridge. But trust me, you'll use it up long before then.



(As a side note - if you love homemade ketchup, with St. John's bread and Monteforte cheese in gooey grilled cheese sandwiches, along with many other delicious foods, you should come to Wychwood barns on Saturday mornings! There's a year-round farmer's market, and The Stop runs a Market Cafe, from 9AM to noon, where all sorts of brunch/lunch foods are served. I volunteer there, along with some other very talented cooks, so I can vouch for how tasty and mouthwatering the food is - and all the profits go back into The Stop's amazing food and gardening programs.)







homemade ketchup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans of whole tomatoes, including juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
salt and pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp dry mustard powder
pinch of cayenne

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil, until onion is translucent. Add all other ingredients, and simmer on medium-low heat for 45 minutes. Stir every once in a while, to make sure there's no sticking in the bottom of the pan. You might want to keep it partially covered, because there will be spattering. After 45 minutes, taste it! Add more sugar, vinegar or salt to you liking. Finally, puree with an immersion blender, or with a blender. If you like really thick, glossy ketchup, you can return it to low heat, and cook for another 10-20 minutes, but you have to watch it closely and stir often to keep it from burning. Really, this step is only if you want to go the extra mile.

Store in a container in the fridge for up to a month. Eat with grilled cheese, eggs, oven fries, where ever you'd eat that bland, sugary heinz ketchup (which will never look the same, after you taste this upgrade!).

dinner for one

While my significant other is off travelling the world, I'm stuck making meals for one. It can be daunting (and so tempting to resort to eating things out of a bag... or the freezer... or just getting take out). Here's a solution that can be gourmet, delicious and only takes as long as your favourite pasta takes to cook.

Switch it up, and use whatever's in your fridge. With some tasty cheese and fresh herbs, any pasta dish can be restaurant-worthy.

Linguine with Kale and Tomatoes
Handful of linguine
Kale, stemmed and torn up
Olive oil
A few garlic cloves, minced
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Olives, pitted
Basil and oregano, chopped
Salt and pepper
Parmesan reggiano

Cook the pasta in well-salted, boiling water. While the pasta is cooking, heat some olive oil in a pan. Add garlic, and cook 30 seconds until fragrant. Throw in the tomatoes, olives and herbs, and cook for another few minutes. When the pasta is almost done, add the kale leaves to the pasta water. Drain pasta and kale, and add to pan with tomato mixture. Toss, season with salt and pepper. Top with cheese! Only fifteen minutes to a gourmet meal for one.

save your seeds!

Every fruit and vegetable has a hidden history. Some come from far away, some were crossbred and cultivated for strange reasons (a monarch's favourite colour, for example), while many others mirror human stories of slavery and destruction (bananas come to mind).

These are Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes. This little tomato has a happy story: it comes from Eastern Mexico, which is the region where tomatoes were first domesticated. The wild seeds were brought to North America a few decades ago, and these tasty, tiny tomatoes have become a popular staple in many gardens. They're tiny, sweet and prolific. Since buying a package of seeds four years ago, I've been saving seeds from my favourite plant each year. That investment of 3 dollars for that first pack of seeds has turned into thousands and thousands of delicious, tiny tomatoes. What a bargain!

It's fall, and that means it's seed saving time. Don't forget to take a few minutes to save some seeds from all your favourite plants. Or, you can pick out some favourites from the market - save the watermelon or squash seeds from your favourite vendor, and next year you can grow your own.

Pizza Sauce

There's one hundred and one recipes that start with a plain old can of tomatoes. Here's a delicious one I saw on Jamie at Home yesterday.

Simple Pizza Sauce

Olive Oil

Handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

A few garlic cloves, sliced

One can of whole tomatoes

One can of tomato paste

salt, pepper

1 tsp sugar

Heat some olive oil in a large pan. Add garlic and basil, saute for a few seconds. Add the can of tomatoes, break them up with the back of a spoon. Simmer for 5 minutes. Over a bowl, strain the sauce through a mesh sieve - use a spoon to push as much liquid out of the tomatoes. Discard the solids. Return the strained sauce to the pan, add the tomato paste, salt, pepper and sugar, and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

Basil and Tomatoes

Spring pizza: here's a dough made from red fife flour, always an excellent shortcut for a fast dinner. This dough is from the farmer's market around the corner from my house, but you can find some premade at lots of bakeries (there's a place in Kenzington that sells pizza dough for $1.50!).

Ok, it's canned pizza sauce, but I was in a rush,

Sliced tomatoes, basil and minced garlic scapes,

Montforte feta and mozzarella...

And no final picture. We ate it too fast. A big pizza needs about 15 minutes at 375.

return from the land of very good and very bad food.

It's been a while since I wrote. A very, very long time. It's not without trying - I can count on the fingers and toes of all the people I live with (which is a lot) the number of times I've made something and thought to myself "I have to write down this recipe and post it!" As far as food is concerned, this has been a summer of extreme highs and lows. I feasted on strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus here in Toronto; I ate loaves and loaves of bread with pasta and vodka sauce in New York City; I devoured a whole watermelon to myself beside the Hudson River; I singlehandedly cooked a local dinner for a party of 30 at my graduation; I made cupcakes that looked like penguins. Those were good. The bad? My favorite two weeks of the year at Trafalgar Castle: camp! Let's just say, the food has never been great. This year the cafeteria provider Armark sunk to new lows. Note the piece of art we made out of stale fortune cookies and a sweet and sour sauce that had the consistency of Jello and the colour of, well, Jell0.

too cute to eat.

food art!

sprawling children's vegetable garden in New York City Botanical Gardens, the Bronx

Addiction to farmer's markets intensifies when the berries begin to appear.

first real food at camp: a giant tray of sushi.

more cupcakes: nests for the penguins!

my boyfriend's not so healthy choice. he regretted ordering a large coke.

But now the weather's getting colder, and I'm back at my computer. Also, no more gluten excuses. From now on, all my recipes will be without gluten: wheat flour, rye, oats, barely soy sauce, etc, etc. It's time to start writing down recipes again. So here we go:

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

I'm not going to lie, I actually got sick of eating tomatoes. I know I'm going to hate myself when January comes, but it's true. My Juliet, Wild Cherry and Green Zebra plants were so prolific that the tomato bowl on my counter was never empty, July to September. This week I gave up and threw them all in the oven for later in the winter.

tomatoes

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300. If using cherry, juliet or plum tomatoes, cut them in half. Anything larger and you'll want to cut them in wedges or slices. Lay out the tomatoes on parchment lined cookie sheets. Drizzle with a very small amount of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 or 4 hours at 300, the turn the oven down to 200 and cook for a few more. Just keep checking them - you'll know they're done when they're completely dried and shriveled up! Watch out if you're cooking different types and sizes of tomatoes at once, they will be done at different times.

Duche de Leche

Here's a simple, easy thing I was first introduced to, strangely, by my diabetic friend. It couldn't be easier if it tried. If you've never had it, it's kind of like caramel sauce, but thicker and more delicious. Try it in crepes, with apple slices, or on top of ice cream. I even used some as a filling in some gluten-free brownies.

1 can of sweetened, condensed milk

Bring a large, deep pot of water to boil. Add can of milk, unopened. Boil for 3 hours. That's it! Just be sure to keep adding water, making sure the can is always covered. Store in a sealed jar in the fridge. I've read that it keeps for a month, but it would never make it that far in my house. I've also read that this method is dangerous, but no cans have ever exploded in my kitchen, and I know a bunch of people who make it this way with no problems.

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. 

forgotten vegetables:

Celariac root, jerusalem artichoke, dandelion greens, tatsoi, rapini- those weird vegetables you pass by at the farmer's market every week. Don't cast them aside just because they don't show up in cookbooks. How do I cut it open? Is the skin edible? What the heck does it taste like? And why is it called a Jerusalem Artichoke? Google it! The answers are all there...

Rapini is maybe a better known vegetable, but one I always forget about. Is it broccoli? Is it spinach? Anyway, here's a recipe from Vegetarian times I made the other night; it's super simple, with minimal ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen.

Rapini with Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

1 bunch rapini, washed and coarsely chopped
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup cooked navy beans or white kidney beans (aka cannellini beans)
Parmesan to taste
salt and pepper
Cook the beans (or use canned). Heat the olive oil in a big pan (I used my wok). Add garlic, cook for 30 sec. Add the rapini before the garlic starts to burn. Saute for 5-7 minutes, until the rapini is cooked. Set aside on plate. Add more olive oil to the hot pan, then add cherry tomatoes and saute until blistering. Add beans, cook for 2 or 3 more minutes until the beans are heated. Season with salt and pepper. Pile (nicely) on top of the rapini. Grate lots of cheese on top! Or, sprinkle with tasty bread crumbs for a vegan version.

I ate this along with some delicious maple-soy glazed mackerel, and it was the tastiest (and prettiest) meal I've had in a long time. Speaking of mackerel, I've started eating fish in the past month, after reading Tars Grescoe's Bottomfeeder. It's a very interesting book about the state of the world's fisheries. You would think that after reading about cyanide bombs in coral reefs and collapsing fishery dates set for 2050, I would have no interest in fish whatsoever. But ever since I went vegetarian, I've been craving seafood, sneaking in some smoked salmon at a party once a year, maybe some cocktail shrimp at a free function.

 

However, after reading Bottomfeeder, I've decide to be educated in my fish choices and go for it once or twice a month. Never again will I fall for Atlantic smoked salmon or cocktail shrimp, which might as well be the factory farmed meat of the sea. Atlantic Salmon is raised in environmentally disastrous fish farms, and most shrimp come from chemical filled in-land ponds in India or the Philippines, which are responsible for poisoning local food sources and clear-cutting mangrove forests. Instead, I'm sticking to fish closer to the bottom of the food chain, such as mackerel, a fish that matures in only 2 years (versus some large fish that can take 10-20 years). It also comes from nearby - there's a large mackerel population that spawns in the St. Lawrence. Check out the book for more information, or websites like Sea Choice or Seafood Watch to find out what fish are an ethical and environmental choice. Here's a tasty mackerel recipe!

Maple-soy glazed Mackerel

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup soy sauce (tamari for the gluten-free)

1/8 cup red wine

Preheat oven to broil. Combine all 4 ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium heat. Simmer for 7 or 8 minutes, until the liquid has reduced to about a 1/4 cup of thick glaze. Set 2 mackerel fillets in on some foil in a baking pan, skin side down. Brush 1/3 of the glaze on fish, then broil for 2 minutes. Remove fish, brush another 1/3 of glaze on, then broil for 1 more minute. Repeat once more (for a total of 4 minutes cooking time, using up all the glaze). Eat! This glaze can turn any food into amazingness. I tried in on broiled tempeh this week. 

PS. Almost planting time! I'm starting off my tomato and squash seedlings next weekend!