catching up

i finally remembered to bring my camera to the kitchen so i will post the menus for this week and last week as well as some pictures of todays lunch. i made veggie melts which turned out quite yummy.


i started by sauteeing onions and adding diced eggplant and lots of garlic. let that cook a wee bit and added red, green and yellow peppers diced. a quick flip, mix and sautee and then added chilis, marjoram and bittersweet smoked paprika as well as a bottle of half pints little scrapper pale ale, a tin of tomatoes and two tins of drained chickpeas.

i let this simmer for about ten minutes then added a whack of chopped cilantro and removed it from the heat. i spooned the mixture onto split english muffins and topped with cheddar. into the oven for about 25 minutes and there you have it, lunch.

i also made a greek salad and resurrected yesterdays cream of celery and potato with tarragon by adding more potato and some asparagus. i also added a smallish dash of smoked paprika to mimic bacon. i'll be right back...

i have been remiss

way too long since my last post. i have been creating some interesting food but not taking pictures or writing about it. i am not crazy about the pictures for the blog that i have posted. i'm not a food stylist nor do i have much time, if any, between when the food is finished and when i need to serve it to the campers. i know how important a good food photo, read gastroporn, is for whetting the appetite.
that being said the highlight for me in the last two weeks has to be the braised lamb shanks. i love lamb but especially lamb shanks. the richest, most tasty part of the lamb in my humble opinion. what to do with these shanks of goodness. well i seared them and set them aside. to the pan i added a generous amout of onion , celery and garlic which i sweated for a short time. i had thought about adding beer or wine and then i remembered the cider and the calvados. so in went the calvodos, a little flame and then the cider was added along with onion soup base, cracked black pepper and beef broth. in went the seared lamb shanks to be covered with fresh thyme, oregano and rosemary. i covered this loosely with foil and slipped it into a 300 oven for about 3 hours. i wish i could describe the aroma when i first uncovered the pot...
a little bit of heaven right here on earth. i was most excited, as i knew if it smelled this good it would taste good as well. the lamb lovers were in for a treat! and yes the braised lamb shanks were a big hit with all but those who just don't like lamb.
the vegetarian meals for the last two weeks were also big hits with the campers. i am so glad i decided to make a vegetarian dinner each week as we have only vegetarian visitors every now and again and i do enjoy making vegetarian food. i made greek cannellini saute last week and peruvian quinoa stew the week before. both recipes are from"moosewood restaurant cooks at home" but as per usual i took liberties with the recipes. the peruvian dish was a saute of the usual suspects spiced up with cumin, chilis and fresh oregano. i served the quinoa on the side along with rice.i was surprised how few people knew about quinoa. they were soon familiar with its south american origins and great nutty flavour and great nutritional value as well. the cannellini was perfcet for a hot day saute veg with fresh herbs, beans and orzo finished with a dash of balsamic vinegar. i served this with grated feta and polenta with parmesan. very yummy.
as for the baking, the lavender lime pistachio cookies were gobbled up at an alarming rate. you would have thought they were chocolate chip cookies they went so fast. i had originally slated pecan puffs for that day, a thank you to rylan. but, he was off so pascale chose the lavender lime pistachio cookies. she remembered them from last year. they were made for our vegan camper.
so not only wierd flavour combo but vegan and still gobbled up. it's a crazy world! other notable baking was banana cream pie, sticky toffee pudding( aka diabetic coma) tara's pick, and angel food cake with berries and ice cream. sometimes it is best to keep it simple on a hot day!
i'll postpictures when i resolve my struggle with ungastroporn like photos depicting my food creations... well all it took was having my camera beside the menus on my desk for me to figure out how to post the menus to the blog. if you click on the menu it will expand so you can actually read it!

it's june, already

the first baking of the week started with pecan bran muffins.one of my favourite muffins. the whole pecans give these healthy muffins a richness and texture i love.
i can't remember where i found the original recipe but for sure it has morphed over the years, especially the amount and kinds of spices i add. i also baked a pouding au chomeur or maple pudding. mike lent me two of his favourite cookbooks to browse/graze threw and i found this lovely dessert from quebec in "anita stewart's canada". it is basically a biscuit top over a maple sauce once it is baked. before going into the oven the sauce is poured over the batter and during the baking processs the sauce slips under the batter which becomes crunchy on top. two of the women here at camp are from quebec and were most excited about this dessert. sandy also remembered a favourite dessert from childhood called "bump pudding". very similar but with raisins in the batter and a simple brown sugar sauce instead of the intense maple sauce. this got me thinking about variations on this theme. i'm thinking dried cranberry with an orange rum sauce, dried cherry with amaretto sauce or pecan with butterscotch. as you can see the pouding was popular.

pictured below is the vegetarian dinner for the week. i made curry lentils. this is a variation on the recipe "mysore cinnamon scented lentil and rice casserole with vegetables and cashew nuts aka bese bele olianna" ( a famous vegetarian specialtty from bangalore) i found in "classic indian vegetarian and grain cooking" . an intrinsic part of this recipe is besi bele powder, somewhat like garam masala. a mixture of spices, coconut flakes, split peas and urud dahl are roasted seperately and then ground together to produce a coarse powder.it was very spicy and aromatic.
i used french green lentils as the base and a variety of vegetables including yellow summer squash, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, peas and tomato.i fiished the dish off with chiffonade of mint. i was pleased that everyone enjoyed this curry. as you can see i served this curry with basmati rice, carrots and broccoli and saute cabbage.

tuesday lunch was big sammy or big sandwich that can be found in " the silver palate cookbook". this is one of ken's favourite lunches, he has many favoutites. i started by baking the big bread, a very large round loaf. then i started making a batch of caponata, an eggplant sauce, and a batch of tapenade an olive and caper relish. they are pictured on the left. i prepped the bread by removing the inside to make room for the many layers of cold cuts and cheeses and the caponata and tapenade. there was also layers of lettuce chiffonade and sliced tomato. i was able to use the leftovers in field lunches for the next two days as this sandwich keeps well. i will use the extra sauces in other sandwiches or pastas.


other notable meals and baking for the week pork paprikash with perogies for thursday dinner.
14 carat cake with cream cheese frosting for wednesday and thursday dinner dessert. pasta carbonara with yellow squash and barley bread for thursday lunch.