Fifteen Years

Well. Here it is, the 10th of June. I've been thinking about this date for the last couple of months. It's the 15th anniversary of this blog. Fifteen years is a lot in blog-years. We still owned the apartment building, and we were having work done on the terrazzo staircase. I had to decide for the day - in or out? I opted for in, got bored, posted a few recipes and the rest is history. I needed a better way to organize them than in an excel spreadsheet, and I figured a few people might stumble up against the blog and the recipes could be useful to others as well. Then, I did get a few readers, and I challenged myself to post steadily, which I mostly have done with a few ups and downs.  

 

And now, I think, it's time to stop.  I may post the odd recipe if I find something I want to keep track of; that was my original aim after all. But that's happening less and less often. Really, I want to go back and make some of the things I've already made and loved but which don't get made again because I'm looking for something new. The whole point of this blog is that enough is as good as a feast, and enough is near by. 

 

I may also posts a few of my notes about the garden and my breeding projects, as this is a good way for me to keep track of them and share them with others. 

This blog has added a lot of structure to my life for the last 15 years and it will seem odd for a while to be without it. I've also made some personal connections to people through it which I will greatly miss. Thank you so much to everyone who has read and used this blog, especially those that have taken a moment to comment. Of course, it is staying up and you will still be able to use all the existing recipes. I may even go back and improve a few.

 

 

 

p.s. In case anyone was wondering, Mom's second eye operation, by which I mean the operation on her second eye since the first one has already had about five operations with more to come, was a success. She is healing slowly and still can't see well, but her world is brighter and it appears she will have at least one mostly functioning eye which is a big relief to all of us.

Strawberry Trifle with Sponge Cake Fingers

The first of the strawberries have been picked! They seem a little early to me, but in spite of some persistent cool weather there have also been some hot days where things have leapt forwards. It's exciting to see them but a little daunting to think about all the picking in my future, when the weeding is so far behind. 

Really, though, this recipe is about the sponge cake fingers, aka lady's fingers. They are designed to be okay on my "better carb" diet, and incidentally they can be gluten free as well. I may fiddle with the recipe in the future; they were not more exciting than lady's fingers usually are which is to say a bit dry and bland. Mostly useful for soaking in sherry and syrup and covering with custard, fruit and whipped cream. Actually, they would also be nice dunked in tea or sherry to moisten them. 

They also came out flatter than ideal, but they plainly need no more in the way of starch, and the texture was still light and fluffy enough. I may try baking them as a thin cake then cutting them afterwards. I took the leftovers and re-baked them in the oven at 200°F for 40ish minutes, and that made them quite dry and crisp. I suspect just baked as directed they have a shelf-life of a few days but re-baked crisp that they would keep for some time. 

While I would describe the sponge cake fingers as surprisingly quick and easy to make, this whole thing is really best suited to a special occasion - Canada Day coming up in the near future, although strawberry season is a special occasion in itself as far as I'm concerned.

 

6 servings

45 minutes - 30 minutes prep time to make the sponge fingers

15 minutes prep time to make the custard 

15 minutes prep time to assemble the trifle

 

 

 

Make the Sponge Cake Fingers:

 

In Bowl #1:

1/4 cup arrowroot starch

1/4 cup potato starch

2 tablespoons coconut flour

Sift these together into a small bowl.  

Line a large baking tray with parchment and preheat the oven to 350°F.

 

In Bowl #2:

3 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 tablespoons sugar OR sweetener OR combo 

Beat with an electric mixer until the egg whites will form stiff peaks.

 

In Bowl #3:

3 large egg yolks

the finely grated zest of 1/2 small lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sugar OR sweetener OR combo 

Measure all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Beat with the electric mixer for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened and become a much lighter yellow in colour. It is not necessary to wash the beaters after beating the egg whites.

Fold half the dry ingredients gently into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in half the beaten egg whites. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients and egg whites. Gently spoon the mixture out onto the parchment, in fingers with a bit of room to spread. You should get 12 of them at about 1/4 cup batter per finger.

Bake them at 350°F for 10 minutes, then rotate the pans and bake for a further 10 minutes. Let them cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing them to a rack to finish cooling. These can and should be made a day or 2 in advance.

 

Make the Custard:

2 tablespoons arrowroot starch

4 tablespoons sugar OR sweetener OR combo

a pinch of salt

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk OR light cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Mix the arrowroot, sugar/sweetener, and salt in the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. 

Turn the heat on under the double boiler and bring it slowly up to a simmer. As it heats, whisk in the milk or cream a little at a time until it is all in. Continue whisking the mixture regularly as it heats, then more frequently as it begins to thicken. Towards the end you must whisk it constantly until it thickens. Remove it from the double boiler at once, then whisk in the butter and vanilla. Let it cool, whisking occasionally to prevent it from forming a skin on top. 

This should be done enough in advance to be cool, and can be done up to a day ahead and kept refrigerated if you wish. 

 

Finish the Trifle:

3 cups fresh ripe strawberries

1 tablespoon sugar OR sweetener OR combo

1 cup organic whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar OR sweetener OR combo

a little sherry OR rum, optional

Set aside a nice selection of the best-looking berries for garnishes; about 1/2 cup of them. Wash and trim the remainder, and mash them with a tablespoon of sugar or sweetener.

Beat the whipping cream with an electric mixer with the remaining tablespoon of sugar or sweetener, until stiff. 

 

Put a puddle of the mashed strawberries in the bottom of each individual serving dish. Break a sponge finger into 2 or 3 pieces and set them in it, on their sides. Spoon a little custard around them on every side then spoon more mashed strawberries over them. A little sherry or rum can be drizzled in at some point during the assembly. Or, this could of course be done in one large serving dish. Something in clear glass so you can see the layers is traditional.

Finish each trifle with a dollop of the whipped cream and a few washed, stemmed strawberries for garnish.

 

Last year around now I was making Chinese Cucumber & Radish Salad, and Creamed Spinach Filled Buns.

Turkish Stewed Peas

Well, I'm going to confess; I made this in the winter with frozen peas and saved it for now. In a funny sort of way there are lots of things that can be made in the winter but late spring and early summer are difficult. I'm also a little ahead of things here; the peas are starting to form but are not yet ready to pick. Soon, though! And I think things are a tad later than usual this year. 

 

Snow peas will be ready before shell peas, and they would work well in this recipe. I do see snow peas used in Turkish cooking regularly, so there's that. It's hard to come up with recipes for snow peas that are better than steaming them and serving with a dab of butter, but this is lovely and would make a nice change.

 

Serve this with rice or pita; it will also go well with any kind of simply grilled fish, chicken or meat. It would also be delicious with poached eggs. 

 

2 to 4 servings

30 minutes prep time 

NOT including shelling the peas

 

 

1 medium onion

1/4 to 1/3 orange or yellow bell pepper

1 clove of garlic 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 bay leaf

salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon rubbed mint

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or to taste)

1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes

2 cups shelled peas

Peel and finely dice the onion. Wash, trim, and dice the pepper into pieces just a little larger than the peas. Peel and mince the garlic. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and add the onion, pepper, and bay leaf. Cook gently for about 5 minutes until softened and reduced in volume. 

Add the minced garlic and remaining seasonings and mix in well. Let it cook for a minute, then mix in the crushed tomatoes. Simmer for a further 5 to 10 minutes until thickened.

Add the peas and be sure they are all down in the liquid. Simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, until the peas are tender. (If using frozen peas, note that 4 minutes will likely be enough, and the same goes for snow peas.) 

Serve at once. 

Last year at this time I made Circassian Chicken.

End of May (*Cough, Cough*) Garden Post

 

Hello! It's time, more or less, for an end-of-the month look at how things have gone in the garden this May. 

 

I spent the winter watching the constant freezing and thawing with dismay. Indeed, a number of the biennials I hoped would over-winter and produce seed have not. Just to confirm it's not just that they were too tender and I was wildly optomistic about their survival, it has become clear we will have no blackberries this year, for the first time since they were planted. All the second-year canes - the ones that have the fruit - were killed over the winter. So, in the photo above, Mr. Ferdzy is removing them. 

On the other hand, my quince is flowering for the first time since it was planted. I thought it wasn't going to, but it seems it's just later to flower than apple blossoms. It would be exciting to have some quinces this  year! But we'll see how that turns out.

One of the kiwi vines if finally looking really robust and like it will be covered with blossoms in late June into July. Unfortunately, kiwi are dioicous, so until one of the much less sturdy male plants decides to do its' thing, we will continue to be kiwiless. We live in the hope. They're not dead yet.

But after all those noes and maybes on the fruit front, the main fruit beds look like they should be loaded with fruit this spring and early summer. Haskaps - excellent. Strawberries - first ones already taking on colour with masses to come. Blueberries - flowering non-stop. We are really looking forward to all of these, especially Mr. Ferdzy who is a fiend for fruit.

We have also been picking wild amounts of asparagus; up to 3 pounds a day. It is slowing down, but we probably have another week of picking. Fresh - really fresh - asparagus is the best thing ever. 

Mr. Ferdzy has been picking asparagus beetles like crazy too. Because of the odd, occasional heat-wave day that we have been having in the midst of otherwise cooler weather, the asparagus beetles have been up and active almost before the asparagus. This has concentrated them onto smaller, less mature plants than usual making them easier to spot and pick off than usual. I'm hoping we can reduce the numbers by a lot this year, by getting most of them.

Once the asparagus is gone we will have to eat salad for a couple of days and then the peas should get going. Pods are already forming and I should really be starting to check for snow peas very soon. 

The garlic, in the foreground, is having a very good year so far. It looks healthy, tall, and really magnificent.

 

If you look closely, you can see the tomato plants in the two central beds of this section. Much more obvious right now are the things we've left here to go to seed: leeks, onions, parsley, rutabaga, and turnips. There's also some mache and miner's lettuce here and there that we are leaving to their own devices. Brussels sprouts, alas, overwintered in very small numbers. We have one very healthy flowering plant; the rest are either not flowering with it or are in the process of dying. Not looking good for Brussels sprouts seeds this year. We'll have to try again next year.

 

The ladder in the background is for putting up bird netting over the blueberries, strawberries, and haskaps. This photo is now out of date; the netting is up (although I have a few small mends to make) and we are ready for fruit, any time now. It's a nuisance not being able to use the front gate to get into the garden but it is not a nuisance to not have birds eating most of the berries. 

 

And we'll finish with a look at the perennial/herb bed. That's caucasian spinach in the upper right. It got away from me before I could pick any to try, and it looks like it's going to flower so probably not this year. The rest of the bed is full of self-seeded dill, cilantro, and summer savory, with bits of lettuce and wild strawberry between them. There's also sorrel and lovage, and weeds - lots of weeds. This bed is going to require quite a lot of weeding and  thinning.

 

Fortunately, almost everything is planted. There are some re-plants - we are doing all the brassicas again, in pots this time. The pests are just too relentless on the seedlings. They come up, look good for a couple of days, then disappear. Also I planted melons and watermelons too early and only a very few came up. I'll need to reseed some beans, ditto, and Lima beans have yet to go in. Sweet potatoes are in, though; although we are covering them at night as it is still pretty cool. In short, this is probably the middle of the busiest part of the entire year, and we are busy. 

 

We are actually out for all of today as Mom is finally having her second cataract operation. In Toronto this time, by a more specialist surgeon given what a fiasco her first cataract operation was. Wish us (her) luck... it's a scary moment for all of us and the results, one way or another, will have a considerable impact on the rest of our lives.

Hariyali Chicken Kebabs

These were so yummy! We had no trouble (do we ever?) eating them all ourselves, with rice and peas on the side. If you were serving other Indian dishes with them, though, they would go further. Also they would go further if you are not the complete piggies that we are. You could cut the recipe in half but I suspect you could easily keep half in the fridge for cooking the next day. 

I liked the touch of red pepper, but it's not particularly traditional. Next time I might broil the peppers a bit before threading them on the skewers; they stayed pretty crisp even when the chicken was cooked.

 

2 to 4 servings

20 minutes to prepare chicken and marinade

2 to 24 hours to marinate

15 minutes to cook

 

 

4 to 6 cloves (1 head) garlic

2" piece of ginger

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 to 1 teaspoon hot red chile powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves

2 tablespoons very thick yogurt

the juice of 1/2 large lemon

   OR 1 large lime

1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil

2 or 3 (600 grams; 1.5 pounds) skinless, boneless chicken breasts 

1/2 large red or orange bell pepper OPTIONAL

Peel and slice the garlic, and put it in the bowl of blender with the ginger, also peeled and sliced. Add the spices and salt. 

Wash and dry the cilantro and mint. Trim the stems off the cilantro, chop it coarsely, and add it. The mint leaves should be picked off the stems and the stems discarded, except for the tender tips. Add the yogurt and purée the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Scrape as much of it out as you can into the container in which you are going to marinate the chicken. 

Add the lemon juice to the blender and process to wash down the sides. Pour it into the rest of the marinade and add the oil. Mix well. 

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Add them to the marinade and turn them to coat them in it. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight. 

If using bamboo skewers, soak them for at least 30 minutes first; several hours is better so I try to remember to start soaking them as the chicken begins to marinate. Thread the chicken on the skewers, keeping as much marinade on them as possible. If you like, put bite-sized pieces of red or orange bell pepper in between each piece of chicken. Lay them on a broiler pan and spoon half the remaining marinade evenly over them.

 

Broil for 5 to 6 minutes per side (2 sides) until cooked through. When you turn them over, spoon the remaining marinade over them before broiling again. Serve at once with rice or naan, and the vegetable dishes of your choice. 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year at this time I made Pizza Crackers.