Sunday, July 31, 2011

Great food link: Food, Curated


DOUGH Donuts: A Far Cry From The Old Fashioned from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.



The above video comes from foodcurated.com, a wonderful site that I came across and spent way too much time on this week.  It features videos from small scale food producers and store owners, mostly in the New York area.  If you're looking to be inspired, you should check it out.  It seems like a great project!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Radishes

Radishes seem to be insinuating themselves into my life in the past few months.  Never was a radish seen at my family table growing up, and I was probably 25 before I even tasted one. Reading Daikon pickle recipes I found instructions to hang the radish to dry in the sun for days and days.  
Digitizing photos at work of Dawson from the Klondike Gold rush, I found a photo of a woman watering radishes on the roof of her tin shack.  And then this still from the Korean film 'Barking Dogs Never Bite'.  
I need to learn more recipes that involve these bad boys!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Amazebowls (Vegan Rainbow Lunch Bowl)



I took way too long to take the above picture, but I finally gave this purple Kale the glamour shot treatment.
I made this bowl to deal with double-shift lunches.  I cooked up enough yums for three days, including tofu, broccoli, spiced onion and kale, chickpeas, black rice and fresh corn.  I made a 'fresh' type saucy gravy of Korean miso or Denjoeng, tahini, apple juice, vinegar, coconut milk and strawberry puree. Kiss my ass hotdog truck!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Working Class Foodie

I have a few old favourite youtube cooks, and today I was delighted to add a new one. Working Class Foodie teaches you how to make all sorts of delicious things. Here she is teaching you how to make your own seitan!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Chew your smoothie - popsicle time!

This popsicle maker is going to change my life.  Okay, that's a bit drastic, but this week it's going to be around 30 degrees every damn day, and I have no a.c.
Enter the popsicle.
This one is a raspberry/banana/soymilk smoothie popsicle, with about a teaspoon of sugar.
I used the raw ingredients for a small smoothie (1/2 banana, a handful of raspberries, a tsp of sugar and about 1/8 cup of soymilk), blended them as I would a regular smoothie and then spooned the mixture into a popsicle mold and froze overnight.
This is maybe my favourite way to eat my fruits!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I wanna (Mulberry) Jam it with you

I'm very inspired by the group Not Far From the Tree, who gather volunteers to harvest fruit and sap that would otherwise go to waste from Toronto trees. They share it with community groups and with the volunteers and I think they do a wonderful thing.
For the last 5 years, I've worked near a tree that exploded with mulberries every year.  The tree looks ancient, and 80% of its berries are out of reach to a shorty like me.  Every year I told myself I'd get a ladder and some coworkers and shake that shit down.
Last week most of my coworkers and I found out we were being laid off next month. So now or never, right? 
I made this jam from between 6 and 8 cups of mulberries, and I got six small jam jars full--that's enough to share with all the gleaners, and an extra one for me to eat with my welfare cheese in a few months (just kidding)
  
Kate, Mike and Liz star in 'The Gleaning" - Photo by Carly
 I kind of flew by the seat of my pants for this jam...there really aren't many mulberry jam recipes out there. 
All told, it took about 5 hours (phew) of stemming, washing, boiling and jarring.  I added a pinch of cinnamon and allspice because I was curious, and it turned out very well!  I think you can use any basic jam recipe, with or without pectin, and this will work.
I see many more jams in my future!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Panzanella!

I love Panzanella in the summer.  I'm not certain, but I think that the name either comes from the Italian word pane (bread) or panzo (belly/stomach). This simple bread salad is very refreshing during hot days, and is one of those dishes that gets even better if you make it in advance.
This dish uses up stale bread nicely as well. 
For two servings: 
1/2 loaf of stale crusty bread (no wonderbread, yo.)
1/2 a cucumber, chopped
1-2 med. tomatoes, chopped, with juices (or 1/2 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes halved).
A thin slice of onion, chopped finely
One clove of garlic chopped finely
1/4 block of tofu, cubed (optional)
a few torn leaves of basil
1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil/wine vinegar total (in whatever proportion you like)
s & p to taste.
Roughly tear the bread into chunks.  If it's very very stale, soak it in water for a minute, then squeeze most of the water out gently and put it into a med. bowl
add vegetables and tofu and basil to the bowl
pour dressing over, tossing well (pressing down if necessary to get the bread to absorb all the juices)
add salt and pepper to taste
allow the salad to sit, refrigerated, for at least 30 min before serving.  This is great after it has chilled overnight as well.
Enjoy the shit out of this mofo.