Seasonal Inspiration: Sautéed Jerusalem Artichokes

My farmer's market haul this weekend included local fresh asparagus, golden beets and Jerusalem Artichokes, as well as four heirloom tomato plants.  I utilized the square foot gardening method this year and got everything planted that I had planned - tomatoes, hot peppers, arugula, pole beans, bush beans, zucchini (green & yellow), cucumbers, and some experimental romano beans that I dried last fall.  Now my fingers are crossed that it doesn't frost again!  I mean, come on, it's the May long weekend!  That is traditionally the time to plant in Ontario, Canada.  I'm trying to forget that it snowed last week.

I went looking through my cookbooks for something new to make with Jerusalem Artichokes.  When I discovered them last year, I parboiled and stir fried them with some wild leeks and bacon.  I also used them in a minestrone soup.  Not sure how I missed it before, but Jamie devotes a couple of pages to their preparation in his book Jamie's Dinners.

338.  Sautéed Jerusalem Artichokes with Garlic and Bay Leaves (Jamie's Dinners, page 172)

JamieOliver.com recipe

I liked this simple, vegetarian recipe because doesn't call for bacon or cream (although it does call for a pat of butter).  I peeled the artichokes with a speed peeler, and cut them into chunks.  Then I combined a bit of olive oil and a pat of butter in a pan, and fried them until they were golden on all sides.  At that point, I added some sliced garlic, some red wine vinegar, and a bit of water to stop the frying process and start the steaming process.  I seasoned with salt and pepper and covered the pan, so the vegetables would soften.  I left it on a low heat for about 20 minutes.








Obviously you should remove the bay leaves before eating, but I was trying to replicate the picture so I left them in.  I don't think there is any way to keep such vibrant yellows and greens in a dish that has been cooking for a good half an hour - Jamie's photographer must have used a filter.  Otherwise, I think my dish came out pretty well.  I ate it with some sautéed bay scallops.

 

This post has been shared at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty!

Food Revolution Day 2013

It's been an eventful week.  Sunday was Mother's Day, and it snowed.  It also hailed, sleeted, and rained, all while we were attempting to cut the grass for the first time this year.  That didn't go so well, and then the lawn mower just up and quit.  My front lawn looks ridiculous at the moment.

Attempting to mow in the rain/sleet/hail/snow

 
Let's see, what else happened?  My son had the plates stolen off his Jeep, and my old junker died in the middle of an intersection in rush hour traffic, requiring a tow truck and $350 in repairs.  In good news, the weather has turned around and it's gorgeous out!  My leeks, chard, beets and lettuce survived the frosty weather and are starting to thrive.  I even saw some flowers on my strawberry plants.  My sons decided to cut down one of my two apple trees last week, so the current project is to bundle the branches and take them to the curb for the next garden pick up so we can cut the back lawn eventually.  This weekend, I'm hoping to plant my two new raised gardens with veggies and enjoy the sunshine.

Herb garden filled with hailstones

Last night, the kids informed me that they were coming over for a BBQ.  I told them ok, but it's BYOM! (bring your own meat).  I went home from work and made a quick potato & egg salad with chives from the garden, and defrosted myself a filet of trout.  Because of their concerns that the fish might touch their weenies, I wrapped it in foil with some garden fresh sorrel & mint. The sorrel came up again from last year and is out of control!  As is the mint, but what else is new.  That stuff grows like a weed.  It may annoy me in summer but I miss it so much in winter.  But back to the trout - it was fabulous!  Really, really tasty.  A good combination, and another way to use up the sorrel.

I know today was officially #FRD2013, but I had to work and I was so wiped out this evening that I just ate left overs.  I am hoping to be inspired tomorrow to cook something special.

Asparagus and Potato Tart

Back in Canada after a quick 5 day road trip to North Carolina and back!  I've eaten every meal in a restaurant for the past 5 days.  I'm so sick of it I could scream.  This morning, my son tried to convince me to go to Denny's for breakfast.  NOT!  LOL  All I was craving was toast.  And an apple.  And Greek yogurt.  I went down to the outdoor farmer's market and picked up my first Ontario asparagus and rhubarb of the season, and was inspired to make this cross between a quiche and a casserole for a late lunch.

337.  Crispy and Delicious Asparagus and Potato Tart (Jamie At Home, page 25)

FoodNetwork.com recipe

Every year I watch this asparagus episode, and every year I want to make this tart, but figure it's full of things I'm not supposed to eat.  Today, I decided screw it.  I'll make a few substitutions and enjoy it anyways!  I had everything I needed without having to go to the store, so why not?

The base is phyllo pastry, brushed with melted butter.  The filling is a combination of boiled, mashed potatoes, Cheddar and Lancashire cheese, cream, eggs, pepper and nutmeg.  Instead of 8 oz heavy cream, I used 4 oz of light (5%) cream and 4 oz of fat free greek yogurt.  I didn't have Lancashire cheese, so I substituted some light Havarti and some grated parmesan.  I went really easy on the melted butter.  I thought the finished product looked very similar to the one in the book.

 

Jamie suggests serving this with a salad, so I went with the same ingredients as I'd used in the egg ribbon salad the other day. 

 

 

 

The only complaint I have is that I think there should have been salt added to the filling.  Otherwise it was totally delicious, and cut into 6 pieces, not that calorific after all.

 

This post has been shared at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty!

A Different Kind Of Egg Salad!

My herbs have all been transplanted outside, my gardens are either planted or turned and ready to go, and the winter blahs have been replaced with lovely, warm afternoons and daylight lasting until 8 p.m. or later.  God, I love spring!  Tomorrow I head out on a 5 day road trip to North Carolina.

With the beautiful weather and my gardens starting to sprout, I've been drawn to watch old episodes of Jamie At Home.  I started with Spring, and while a lot of them are full of cream and butter and other things I have to avoid, this one caught my eye as light and healthy and something I might like and be able to actually digest without issue.  It comes from the chapter entitled "Eggs".

336. Delicate Egg Ribbons With Bresaola, Crispy Fennel and Spring Leaves (Jamie At Home, page 36)

JamieOliver.com recipe

Try as I might, I cannot find bresaola to save my life. I've looked in high end grocery stores, farmer's markets and even a European deli or two. Probably for the best, since I'm not so good with red meats.  So after a morning of hard labour in the garden, this salad, with the substitution of deli turkey breast looked like a nice, light lunch. 

The first step is to shave some fennel and soak it briefly in some cold, icy water to crisp it up.  However, Jamie advises not to soak it long or else it will leech it's flavour out.  I decided to use a speed peeler as I can't even look at video of anyone using a mandolin....never mind using one myself.  This worked out well.  I tore up some red radicchio leaves and added a handful of baby arugula to round out the salad.

Next up, the egg ribbons.  Just beat your eggs with salt, pepper and a little splash of water. I figured I'd screw this up for sure so instead of just doing one egg for myself, I went with two.  Over a medium heat, and using a non-stick pan with a bit of olive oil rubbed in, lightly coat the pan with the egg mixture and angle it around so that it's a thin layer.  Using a spatula, carefully remove your "crepe" and cut it into strips.  What are the odds that they both worked! So I ended up with double the amount of egg to salad that I should have.  My "strips" were not as nice and neat as Jamie's, but they tasted good.  The dressing is just a simple lemon & olive oil mixture with a recommendation of grated parmesan over the top, even though I forgot.  I garnished with the fennel tops.

 

 

I ate this with some lightly toasted ciabatta bread and it was actually quite a filling lunch.  I'd make it again....it's quick and easy, a nice, light warm weather lunch or brunch.

 

This post has been shared at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty!

15 Minute Meals: Chilli Con Carne Meatballs

This is the one that piqued my interest off the top.  It is the first recipe of the very first episode of Jamie's 15 Minute Meals TV series.  I remember being so excited and impressed with the shortcuts he devised, to be able to make something resembling chili, which is generally slow cooked for hours, in such a short amount of time.  So today, I instructed my son to defrost some ground beef, figuring half could be for this and half could be for his spaghetti & meat balls.

335.  Chilli Con Carne Meatballs (Jamie's 15 Minute Meals, page 58)

Foodenarium.com recipe

YouTube episode

I took a few liberties with this recipe: one short cut and one not-so-quick method so they pretty much evened out.  I decided that I'd forgo the bulgur wheat and use pre-cooked brown rice instead.  It meant one less pot on the stove, but it also meant I could make this meal gluten-free, which is something I'm striving for these days.  I didn't have a jar of roasted peppers, so my first step was to halve the fresh ones I had and put them under the broiler to blacken, while I quickly mixed up my beef, salt, pepper, and garam masala to form the meatballs.  Jamie portions out 16 balls from 400g of lean beef, 4 per person.

Once I got these frying in a bit of olive oil, I opened a can of mixed beans and started assembling the sauce ingredients on the counter.  Passata, smoked paprika, fresh cilantro, spring onions, and the roasted peppers are thrown into the blender, seasoned with salt and pepper, and pureed.  The beans are drained and added to the frying pan (with a pinch of cumin) towards the end of the cooking time for the meatballs.  The sauce and meatballs are combined together in a pot to simmer while the beans crisp up and take on an altogether new texture from what I'm used to. 

 

 

The rice, sauce, meatballs, beans and cilantro leaves for garnish are all layered up in the bowl, and topped with a couple of dollops of fat-free yogurt.  I liked the textures in this dish, very chewy and satisfying, but still very chili-like too.  I'd definitely do this one again in a pinch!

15 Minute Meals: Thai Chicken Laksa

Ok, I know I just posted about laksa a month ago, but I'm kind of obsessed with it.  And our weather turned cold and snowy again this weekend so I needed something to warm me up!  Will it ever really be spring?

334. Thai Chicken Laksa - Mildly Spiced Noodle Squash Broth (Jamie's 15 Minute Meals, page 44)

DailyMail.co.uk recipe

I was looking through the chicken chapter for something I hadn't tried yet, and came up with this.  It calls for chicken thighs and I had breasts, but I just used a bit of oil to coat them and called it even.  I sprinkled them generously with five spice and pounded them out with a rolling pin to flatten them.  Then I put them in a hot griddle pan while I got to grating my squash in the processor.

Since I had frozen butternut squash rather than fresh, I used the standard blade to chop it up, and then added it to my pot with simmering water and a chicken stock cube to form the base of my soup.  In the processor, I whizzed up chile, garlic, ginger, cilantro stalks, green onion, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, soy sauce, peanut butter, fish sauce & sesame oil until it was well blended.  I added this to the soup along with a bunch of chopped asparagus & some coconut milk masquerading as soy milk with coconut flavouring.

 

 

Of course, I had to keep an eye on the chicken while stirring my soup, turning it every so often and finishing it off with a drizzle of honey, lime juice and sesame seeds.  I added my medium rice noodles to the soup until they were soft, then garnished it with some lime juice & the leaves from the cilantro once it was off the heat.  I enjoyed this twist on the usual pumpkin laksa I make, and it helped me to use up some of the multitude of fresh greens currently in my crisper!

 

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One year ago, I was devouring some Creamy Seafood Lasagne.

Two years ago, I was dealing with Easter Day and turkey and Roast Pork with Applesauce!

Three years ago, I was enjoying a Sizzling Beef stir fry.

 

This post has been linked to the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty!

Pork Chops with Thyme, Lemon & Pesto

Lately, my son & I are at odds with food.  While I tend towards fresh veggies & seafood (and 15 Minute Meals supports this), he wants basic 'meat & potatoes' type dishes.  Most often, I just cook for myself, and when he comes wandering in, near bedtime, he has to fend for himself.  That's all fine, but he ends up eating a lot of KD, frozen chicken strips, and burgers.  I worry that he's not getting much of any nutitional value from that type of food.  So I am trying to get the idea of 'taking something out of the freezer' through his head.  If I find it defrosting on the counter, I'll work with it and create a meal that he can pop in the microwave when he gets home.

Yesterday, I came home from work to find 4 large, half-frozen pork chops on the counter.  Really good quality, hormone & antibiotic free, Omega-3 pork chops, but wow, that's a lot of meat.  What to do? 

333.  Pork Chops with Thyme, Lemon & Pesto (The Naked Chef, page 107)

I have a great little potted herb garden in my windowsill right now.  I started it in January from seed, and it's going strong.  I thought I'd big that up with this meal.  So first off, I made a small batch of pesto in the processor, using what basil I could find, and supplemented it with the remains of a store-bought package of cilantro.  Then, I made the marinade for the pork in my big pestle and mortar, combining thyme, salt, pepper, a garlic clove, and the zest & juice of a lemon with a tablespoon of olive oil.

I rubbed this mixture over the chops and let them sit while I peeled potatoes and washed romaine lettuce for a quick salad.  For my own sanity, I put some asparagus spears into a pot.

Jamie admonishes you not to overcook the pork. I did it about 5-6 minutes on each side on a high heat in the griddle pan. After reading the nutritional breakdown (240 cals & 18 g fat), I decided to cut one chop in half for myself, and give the other half to my older, health conscious son. The rest were left for the meat eater to gnaw on for a couple of days.

The pork was tasty,  and I did dollop some pesto not only over the chop, but the asparagus as well.  However, tonight I think I might need to make another batch of that Koh Samui Salad......

This post has been linked to the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty!