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.