miso soup, my new forever

dinner went well. there was no recipe, just a hodgepodge of good tasting things in a pot set to boil, and some fresh stuff chucked in as it was served.

a late lunch, started with coffee (kicking horse 454… not as flexible as grizzly claw, but nice if not allowed to steep for too long… oh I could write a whole post on that…). lunch. right. then lunch moved into some well needed insightful conversation with pony. then it was onto ‘by-the-letter miso soup.’

I’m using hondashi, a brand name of instant dashi, so I thought I would use a recipe from their parent website, here. I followed this exactly because I have very little experience working this kind of food, and I feel it’s best to learn the basics before intuitively building dishes. but understand that when I say ‘to the letter’ I mean… mostly. so, I heated the water at medium high because I have an ancient stove and was hungry. I also didn’t include wakame because I didn’t have any, and I generally am not big on seaweed flavours either.

the smell of just the dashi heating and dissolving in the water was so reassuring. it’s got that savoury, smoky smell of having a fire on the beach, or the feeling of being on the coast in the damp dross of winter with a fire going and an afternoon to just wile away.

I can’t tell you how pleasing it is to be able to recreate something like food in a particular style that’s literally and figuratively foreign to me. I’ve lived in canada my whole life and grew up eating well cooked, but plain and standard fare. I didn’t eat and enjoy chinese food until I was 19.

NINETEEN! this was for more reasons than just being food-shy or sheltered – that I won’t get into now – but this plays a big role in my being so excited to dip into unfamiliar yet thoroughly appreciated edible territory.

anyway, this miso soup was everything I was hoping for. it was so, so satisfying. it wasn’t too salty or too weak, it was baby bear perfect.

I am now going to down some green tea and read up on mythology.

BANANAS muffins – with serious nana flavour

it’s strange for me to be sharing a muffin recipe because it seems that making muffins is all I do these days. why would that be strange for me then? well, most posts on the firdge are from food things I build here at home because I really like them. I of course love muffins, but they’ve become a work-associated food item as I make between 250 and 400 a week.
work or not, banana muffins are an essential in any baker/food preparer’s repertoire. these are dense, moist, and super-duper flavourful. I like them a lot.

before embarking on this, make sure you have 4 really ugly, super brown bananas, otherwise get out:
4 super ugly brown bananas, peeled
1/2 C oil
1/2 C milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp banana extract (this is essential!)
1/2 C white sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
2  1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon

. crank yer oven to 375
. in a bowl, chuck in the bananas. mash them with a fork until they’re mostly just mush… or mash if you prefer
. add the eggs and give them a little whip with the end of a spatula

. add the oil, milk, and extracts and stir
. dump in the sugars and stir
. in another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and wisk
. dump the dry into the wet and stir until just incorporated. remember it’s important not to overmix muffin batter because it will get very hard, very quickly. if there are some smaller bits of flour it’s ok, they will get absorbed during the baking process

. spoon the mixture into a greased muffin tin. I like big bulgey muffins, so I fill the cups to the top
. bake at 375 for 20-ish minutes or until they’re a light goldeny colour

. a couple minutes after they’ve come out of the oven, pop them out of the tins with your hands, or with a knife if they’re too hot, and get them into a big tupperware and slam the lid on them. this way they will steam a little and become sticky and moist, just like a banana! if you like your muffins to be less awesome, you could just let them cool in the pan and eat them dry-ish… maybe with butter though.
. also, these are craaaazy good with a cup of blueberries added in with the wet mix

enjoy your newfound bad-banana-user-uppers and how awesome your house smells after baking them!

 

chicken corn chowda – combat dreary with dairy!

it’s cloudy, it’s cold, it’s windy, it’s off-n-on rainy and it’s november. it’s also a night where I have some hours with just the catties, and I always feel that time is best spent making food. it’s doubly rewarding to have a nice hot meal ready for when pony comes home from work.
we had a couple ears of corn in the fridge on the verge of not being so great anymore, so soup was the obvious choice. and while corn chowder is nice, I think it’s even nicer with chicken or turkey. tonight I used turkey because they had big ol’ leg/thigh combos on at the store for super cheap. inexpensive dark meat? sign me up!

also, before I get to the good part, I feel I need to honestly say that I absolutely used two recipes on foodnetwork to figure out how I wanted to attempt this meal. one was paula’s which I used as a guide for ingredients, and the other was tyler’s, which I used more for the method… though mine is different from both in the end. often when I’ve never made something before, or haven’t made it in a long time, I’ll seek out some recipes as a refresher or rough guide, then adjust to my own taste.
okok, on with the good show:

a good wooden spoon of butter (maybe 1/3 C? maybe 1/2 C?)
1 tbsp oil
1 small onion, diced
3 sticks of celery, diced
1 leek, cut in half and sliced into thin semi-circles (I could do a whole post on how to clean/cut leeks, so look it up if you’re not sure)
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
a good glurg of white wine (say, 1/3-1/2 C)
1 tsp dijon mustard
several cracks of black pepper
thyme – 4 sprigs chopped, or 1 1/2 tsp of the dry stuff
3 C chicken stock (or veg if you wanna do this meat-free)
chicken or turkey, cooked and shredded – for turkey, a leg and thigh was lots. for chicken, 8 or 10 thighs… or 4 thighs and 2 breasts maybe
5-6 medium-sized new potatoes, cut into bite-size chunks
3 ears of corn or 3ish C frozen corn
1 zucchini, sliced into semi circles
2 C whipping cream
1/3 C flour or cornstarch

. a couple hours before you want to make soup, crank yer oven to 375 and get your chicken/turkey in there (in an uncovered dish with pepper and poultry seasoning on it) and bake for an hour. let it cool and then begin your soup!

. chuck the butter and oil in a big pot on medium-low heat
. add the onion, celery, leek and garlic. let these get all glossy, but not brown. stir every couple of minutes
. when the veg is translucent and lovely, add the thyme, pepper, mustard and wine. allow to simmer for a few minutes
. add the chicken/turkey, potatoes and chicken stock. slap a lid on it and let it simmer for a good half hour

. meanwhile, if you’ve got corn still on the cob, get it off. the easiest way I know is the guy fieri way (what a FN heavy post this is): get two bowls, one really big, the other small and with a flat bottom. tip the small bowl upside down into the big bowl. rest one end of corn on the smaller bowl and use a big knife to carve off the niblets in one motion. as you do this, the corn falls into the big bowl, and not all over your counter. happy days!
. add the corn  and zucchini to the soup mix and let simmer for ten minutes
. in a big cup or bowl or something, whisk the flour/starch into the cream until it’s all smooth. pour this into the soup and stir constantly as you do to avoid lumps (especially if you’re using corn starch)

. if it’s too thick, add a little milk to thin it out, or some more chicken stock
. let everything come up to a gentle boil and then shut ‘er down. it’s all done, and in the most fabulous of ways!
. serve it nice and hot with some really nice buttered bread and a green salad or all by it’s thick, creamy, hearty self

also, if you wanted to get really decadent, you could add 2 C grated cheddar and 1/4 C chopped green chilis or pickled jalapeños just before serving. so much savour, so much flavour!

uke-lady thanks giving pyrohy

my absolute favourite thing to contribute is food; that should be fairly obvious. what you may not know is that my favourite food to contribute to any big holiday meal, is perogies, pyrohy in ukrainian… of which I am descended from on both sides of my family. I didn’t grow up with any particular ethnic culture, but had a few little things around the house that symbolized the heritage my parents had to show they were proud: painted easter eggs, pysanky, a tiny traditionally painted vase, and a very special book: Traditional Ukrainian Cookery by Savella Stechishin.

This book was given to my mom by my dad, with an inscription referring to it as a ‘cookski bookski.’ within these hallowed pages was/is a recipe so good, so fantastically awesome that I can’t keep it to myself. PYROHY – the most heartwarming, stomach pleasing, happy-fun-time-dumpling EVER. My absolute favourite food, yep, I love them even more than macaroni.

unlike so many others, I follow this recipe exactly, so I felt it unnecessary to retype it for you here. Rather, a photo of the real thing!
BUT, before you make the dough, you need to allot yourself a good three hours or so to making these overwhemlingly lovely little bastards. simply put, it’s worth it… so make lots. I make triple the amount of dough the recipe calls for.

so, either the morning of or the night before you want to make pyrohy, you need some nice russet potatoes. I like russet because when you mash them, they stay super fluffy and don’t need any butter or cream. you could use other potatoes, which I also did this afternoon because I was short on russets, but cook them separately. in the below picture, you can kinda see the difference in texture. I used the more gluey ones for the dough and it worked like a charm!

For the filling… for my filling you will need:
10 LARGE russet potatoes
3-4 C grated sharp cheddar, the older the better… but not, you know, moldy
2 tsp table salt

. boil potatoes as you normally would for mashing
. drain and then dump back into pot
. put salt cheese on top and then lid on top to steam the cheese all melty
. mash
. set aside to cool, or if you’re doing this the night before, cool and then refrigerate

when the potatoes have cooled, start on the dough recipe pictured above. Keep in mind, the filling guide above is for triple the dough, so if you only want to make a few, make much less filling.

. when your dough is nicely put together and has had a nice rest, divide it into three balls (or don’t if you’re doing the single batch)
. lightly flour your rolling/cutting surface
. put a big pot of water on high, so when you’ve got a few pyrohy ready, you can just put them in to boil while you fill more. it’s efficient
. take one of the balls and squish it down a bit with your hand on the rolling surface, let’s say, the counter
. keep in mind this is a fairly elastic dough, like a very rich pasta, so no matter how you roll it, it will spring back a little, which is good
. roll the dough to the thinness shown below… I don’t know how thin that is in numbers. basically, thick enough to have some stretch for the filling process, but thin enough so that the pyrohy isn’t all dough with a little potato

. with a sharp knife, cut the dough into squares… or rectangular triangle shapes. I like it rustic, so there are no glasses or cookie cutters used here for perfect little semicircle nonsense

. take one of the dough-shapes and grab a bit of filling as such:

. not too much, but maybe a little more than you think would fit in one. pull all the edge together in whatever way you find easiest. just folding them over, or with the trickier looking pieces (long triangles) fold them more like a samosa. whatever you choose, make sure to cut off the excess bits of dough that gather where you’ve pinched it all together. I also like to kind of reshape them a bit with my hands so they’re somewhat compact

. when you’ve got 4 or 5 done, gently place them in the pot of boiling water. after a minute or so, give them a stir to make sure they’re not stuck to the bottom. also, never crowd them: max 5 per pot, and if they’re biggins, only 2. trust me

. grab a cookie sheet that has edges and a wire cooling rack
. when they have floated to the top of the water and are circling about, they’re ready to come out. gently place them on the cooling rack so the water can drip/steam off them and they can cool for 10 minutes

. when they’re cool enough to handle, very lightly coat them with oil so you can put them in a big casserole dish or roasting pan without them all sticking together

. when it comes time to cooking them, I like to COAT them in onion butter, which goes like this:

1 big ol’ yellow onion, grated
1 lb. unsalted butter, cut into meltable pieces

. in a pot over low heat, chuck in the butter and grated onion
. let this simmer away until the solids of the butter come to the top and it absolutely reeks on onion
. pour this all over the pyrohy, and maybe set a little aside for pouring on at dinner iffin you like
cover the pyrohy with tin foil or a lid, and bake at 350 until heated all the way through. keep in mind they’re already cooked, and shouldn’t stay in the oven so long that they get tough or leathery

it’s a lot of work, but I think to make these twice a year for thanks giving and xmas is a pretty fabulous treat for you and whoever you’re feeding. funny, these are normally an easter thing for ukrainians, but being a ukrainian canadian without much schooling in traditional ways, I do them this way for the people I love.

bacon, cheddar and caramelized onion scones of tender loving… or róny sconies for short

well friends, it’s time for baking to get savoury. yes? yes. ok, so today it’s the salty goodness of bacon; the tongue tucker of sharp cheddar; and the sweet yielding lilt of caramelized onions all nestled together in a flaky scone. it’s a collld blustery ought-to-be-spring day, but it’s clear and sunny and it smells nice… so logic dictates scones. plus, I had invited my mom over after work for tea and a snack.

out of the pantry will fly:

5 rashers of streaky bacon, cut into strips
1 medium onion sliced thin
2 C self rising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
several cracks of black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika
1 full tsp dry mustard
1/3 C cold unsalted butter
1 1/2 C grated sharp cheddar (or applewood cheddar if you’re feeling smokey and in the autumn spirit)
2/3 C buttermilk plus a bit more for brushing the scones before they hit the heat

. crank yer oven to 425
. get a frying pan on medium high heat. fry the bacon until it’s crispy. drain it and set aside to cool
. turn the burner down to low. when the bacon fat has cooled a bit, add the onion and stir to coat in the grease. put a lid on it and let slowly sautee until golden brown and translucent. you’ll have to stir it a few times, and it should take 15 to 20 minutes to get it done rightly. it’s worth it. when they’re done, take off the heat and allow to cool

. while the onions are going you can mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl
. add the butter to the flour mix. use your hands, not a spoon, to squish the butter into the dry stuff until it becomes a fine sort of crumble. it will be quite dry, but fear not, milk will save the day

. add the bacon, cheese and onions. again, with your hands get in there and make sure everything gets covered with the dry mix. you want to avoid clumps of bacon or onion, so be thorough and tender, it’s baking remember?
. add the milk and start squershin’ around in the bowl again to get everything combined. the consistency should be quite stiff, but not falling apart. if you need to add more milk, only do so a tablespoonful at a time to avoid getting it too mushy. of course, the more you work it, the tougher and less flaky they’ll get… so beware.
. lay out the dough on a cutting board and shape into a rectangle or circle that’s at least an inch thick. cut into crescents, wedges, squares, whatever, and put them on a baking sheet. give them a brush with some milk so they get nice and golden. I like to sprinkle a bit more paprika on top and some pepper too
. fire them into the oven for 10-18 minutes, until they’re goldenish and cooked through

if you would prefer a more savoury scone, forget about the onion and chuck in a couple diced scallions instead. if sweet is your thing, try adding 1/3 cup of frozen corn niblets. and of course you can experiment with flavoured butters too… but that’s a whole other blogg…

coffee appreciation: kicking horse – grizzly claw

it’s exciting: getting the kettle filled and plugged in. opening up a fresh bag of coffee, those ever so slightly greasy beans looking up at you in all their reason-for-living-smelling-glory and then pouring them into the grinder and buzzing ’em up. removing the lid and taking a deep breath… it makes the morning (or in our case this afternoon) right and worthy.

while on our jaunt about town running errands and getting groceries, pony and I were confronted with the ever expensive selection of coffee. normally we try to get whatever’s the cheapest per lb. and still organic/free trade, usually ethical bean or kicking horse. both are great, but today we went with the kicking horse grizzly claw blend. now, I’m someone who searches for, and melts into slurs of ‘ohmygods’ over a cup/pot of coffee that resembles chocolate cake. grizzly claw = awesome cake of awesomeness. it’s deep and full, but I find the majority of its flavour is in the middle and end of a mouthful. the taste upon swallowing, is sweet in a dark, roasty, way, but not at all burnt tasting. it’s hardly acidic, and that’s a big ol’ plus in my books.
at the probable chance of losing some tasting credit from the coffee connoisseurs out there, I will happily admit to putting not only demerara sugar in my coffee, but whipping cream too! it’s breakfast that way. however you take it, all done up like me, or hot and black like róny, I highly recommend the grizzly claw.

this sunday, baking means chocolate chip cookies

oh yes, and how! without introduction (or much of one), chocolate chip cookies:

with the utmost enthusiam, establish the following:

½ C white sugar
½ C brown sugar (demerara, please, it really does make a difference, and that ‘golden’ crap just isn’t going to cut it)
1/3 C butter (unsalted)
1/3 C shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (if you respect yourself, you’ll use real vanilla…)
1 ½ C flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1/2 pack semisweet chocolate chips

. preheat your oven to 375
. in a bowl, mash the butter and shortening together until combined and smooth
. add the sugar, egg and vanilla. mix until smooth
. in a separate bowl, have you boyfriend (or you can do it) mix the flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk or run it through a sieve
. add the chips to the wet mix, and then dump in the flour mix. stir gently so you don’t send flour everywhere, but get everything incorporated and happy. the dough should be fairly light, but not crumbly
. place semi roundish balls on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until they’re the sort 0f doneness you like

if you like granola, I suggest baking these at 325 for longer so they’re rock hard. then bang ’em up with a rolling pin and sprinkle into unsweetened yogurt. in my house, this is known as róny granoly.
if it’s luxury you crave, rather than chocolate chips, do a mix of 75% cocoa chocolate (you know the lindt bars with different percentages that are supposed to be from different places like cuba, columbia, all that nonsense) wunked into little pieces along with chopped up frozen caramilk bars (as my dear friend Emelia and I used to do). they are special, let me tell you

30 Helens agree… texture, is important – peanutbutter cookies

it’s sunday. you can’t go to a dinner you would like to go to, so make something sweet to take your place. peanutbutter cookies, you know the ones… a bit more affordable because they’re made with shortening instead of butter; are soft and have that brown sugar comfort thing going for them. this is my grandma’s recipie and I hope she’s cool with me sharing it with you. I never got to meet her, but I really cherish being able to share the food she used to make for her friends and family (like my mom, who passed it on to me). try these and see why.

½ C short’nin’
½ C raw peanut butter (no salt or sugar)
1 C brown sugar (demerara is best)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 C flour (½ C all-purpose and ½ C whole wheat is nice)
¼ tsp soda
¼ tsp salt

. cream the short’nin’ with the peanut butter
. add the sugar, vanilla and egg
. in a separate bowl, mix the flour, soda and salt
. sift the dry ingredients into the wet stuff and mix well
. roll the dough into balls (large egg size) and flatten with a fork on the cookie sheet. these don’t really spread out much when you bake them, so only squish ’em down to about 3/4″
. bake in a preheated oven for ten-ish minutes at 375. they should be goldenish but still a bit soft in the middle. texture is important.