Edible Tulip

The 8,000 Mile Meal

Many pieces of my meal - the heart and soul of the dish I might add - came from delectable places far from Toronto although I didn't import these items at great environmental cost. No. They were brought back to Toronto in a suitcase from the alleyways of Paris and the historic towns of Czech Republic. It's August and the only month I believe fit for eating vegetables and fruits from entirely local sources. You can't avoid local produce. It's everywhere in the grocery stores and farmers markets - budding cauliflowers heads, green string brings, the first of the peaches and cream corn crop, the last of the raspberries. Some people however are still confounded by what our local produce looks like. A recent conversational exchange in my kitchen: "oh hey, I bought a dozen apricots too today" "Um, those aren't apricots, those are ONTARIO PEACHES!!!". They may look diminutive compared to their southern obese cousins but they taste much, much better: sweeter, juicier, riper. Apples too get that same abuse. People think the average apple is supposed to be the size of an adult fist. When really, Ontario apples that are not crossbred and coated in insecticide are on average the size of large plums. I remember talking to apple growers up around Meaford and Thornbury summers ago and how they kept stating that the grocery stores wanted larger apples because the consumer had placed quality on size of fruit. And we all know, size doesn't really matter...

This meal is a combination of whole wheat fusili with sauteed fresh corn and cumin, chopped fresh parsley and mint, diced tomatoes, green mammoth olives whole, Pate d'Olive noire from Les Delices de France, salt encrusted capers, Cereal Terra pesto vegetale from the Czech Republic, crushed herbes de provence from Paris and some swirls of extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. Diced pieces of a perfect avocado made its way into the mix as well.

Moqueca de Peixe

Since I have a category titled "Simple One Bowl Meals" it'd be fair to assume that I cook them fairly frequently. I like a lot of one thing rather than small bits of different things (a philosophy that apparently only applies to my culinary habits). I'd guess that I eat 9/10 meals out of a bowl rather than off of a plate. Anyway, here's one to add to the bowl in a meal repertoire for others who like the simplicity of it.

Moqueca de Peixe is a Brazilian take on a fish stew. The Italians like fennel and wine and mussels, the French add the aioli to give it a garlic/mayo kick, and the Brazilians enrich the classic tomato based fish stew with coconut milk, adding a creamy tropical flavour but keeping it light.

My boyfriend comes from a Catholic family and apparently one doesn't eat any sort of flesh from a meat source on Good Friday so I decided given the rain and wind and snowy weather we'd stay in and cook. Brazilian fish stew served on rice with a side of sauteed garlic collard greens and Easter bread for dipping became our menu. Wine was a 2005 Laroche Chablis. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with chopped almonds and maple syrup and a bowl of strawberries and blackberries.

I googled around for a straight forward recipe and ended up with the following from the "Cooking Light" website:

Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca de Peixe)
From the state of Bahia in northern Brazil, moqueca de peixe (moo-KAY-ka duh PAY-shuh) is a tropical fish stew fragrant with garlic and peppers, and enriched with coconut milk.

1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (1 1/2-pound) sea bass or halibut fillet, cut into 1/2-inch wide strips
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
3/4 cup minced green onions (about 1 bunch)
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
2 cups chopped tomato (about 2 large)
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro, divided
2 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup light coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; toss to coat. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, bell peppers, green onions, garlic, and bay leaf; cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high; add tomato, and cook 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup cilantro, clam juice, and broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

Place one-third of vegetable mixture in a blender, and puree until smooth. Pour pureed vegetable mixture into pan. Repeat procedure with remaining vegetable mixture. Add coconut milk and red pepper to pureed vegetable mixture. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 3 minutes. Add fish mixture; cook 3 minutes or until fish is done. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup cilantro.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Our amendments and alterations since there were only two of us:
1 lb. white fish - Tilapia
1/2 lb. shrimp
1/2 lb. fresh clams in lieu of clam juice
1/2 green zucchini in lieu of green pepper
1/2 red pepper, chopped, not pureed
1 can of diced tomatoes in addition to 3 small hot house tomatoes chopped
fresh thyme and tarragon as seasoning instead of cilantro
1 cup of water with 1 cube of vegetable bouillon instead of chicken broth

We started cooking just after 7 p.m. and we ate by 8:15 p.m. and the flavours had developed enough in that hour unlike chili where the depth of flavour doesn't truly emerge until 24 hours of evanescing.

This would be a great meal to serve to company - pretty clam shells on a rose coloured stew with hints of coconut, and lime, and homemade bread for dipping. The quality of the fish carries the meal taking a lot of pressure off of the cook!

On a personal note, I can't illuminate enough how lovely a night in with a friend or a loved one can be. On a financial scale, the benefits are so obvious - our Chablis was bought at duty free, the fish at Whole Foods, the tomatoes, fresh herbs, berries, and vegetables from one of my favourite green grocers in the city on the north-east corner of Bloor Street and Manning Ave (across from the large Korean grocery store P.A.T.), 5 bouquets of flowers bought from Av/Dav flower markets, a dress, nylons and high heels and a suit jacket and a freshly shaved chin, jazz music, and Silk Cuts, well, hey, you couldn't pay for that kind of ease and comfort and decadence.

Gypsy Soup Variation

10 years ago I was subletting a small 2 story house in the Little Portugal area of Toronto. I was housesitting 2 French cats. I was working part-time through a temp agency and the time I had off I was working in the enclosed front garden, writing upstairs in the lavendar painted study, or trying my hand at new dishes in the kitchen. It was one of my first times living entirely alone and what I remember most about that summer was how much I loved that peaceful state of solitude. I still do.

I cooked the Gypsy Soup recipe out of Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook that summer and I now use it as the base idea to build on for a variety of fall soups that feature root vegetables. What I love about that recipe is her call for any orange vegetables (squashes, yams, and/or carrots) and any green vegetables (green beans, zucchini, chopped up chard/collard greens/spinach, sliced cabbage). The soup is in a tomato base (I used diced canned tomatoes but fresh chopped are also fine) that is built upon a garlic and onion mixture with spices - turmeric, cayenne, basil or thyme, paprika, bay leaves.

I started out cooking a butternut squash and a yam in the oven until they were cooked through but still firm. I prepared my onion/garlic base, added the spices, cubed the cooked squash and yam and added them, added a large can of diced tomatoes, and a few cups of water and brought everything to a boil and then turned it down to simmer for 1/2 hour. Before I ate the soup, I chopped up 1/2 head of collard greens into thin strips and added that into the soup and I opened a can of Thai green curry (the Aroy-D brand) which has coconut milk, bamboo shoots, basil leaves, red chilli, kaffir lime leaves, and green curry paste. It added the kick to the soup that I wanted without all the effort of procuring all those ingredients beforehand. I also add the Patak's jalapeno pickle as a dollop on top before eating.

I am not a left over fan. I never have been. I hate eating something that I already ate the day before. I've always been like that. I do not think that food tastes better the day after unless it's a soup or dal or stew that you cooked the day before and haven't yet tasted. I never bring left overs to work for lunch. That would depress me. I do not know why I have this intense aversion to left overs but I do. However, interestingly, when I make this soup - something about the flavours and the warmth of the curry, the coconut, the squash and yams - I can eat it for dinner 3 nights in a row.

Soup for a Gypsy

I tend to think of myself as a bit of a gypsy, roaming from place to geographic place, city to city, job to job, mindscape to mindscape, embracing it all, absorbing the experience, then moving on with all of the necessities of life and a suitcase of ripe and vivid memories.

This Gypsy Soup is a take on Mollie Katzen's from her Moosewood Cookbook. I used squash (a butternut that I cooked ahead of time instead of the called for yams) but otherwise I stuck fairly close to the ingredients: cooking an onion and celery with some garlic and ginger in oil. Adding spices like cumin seed, cinnamon, turmeric, cayenne, and cardamom into the blend (although you can definitely play around with the spice mixture depending on your tastes). Then I added a couple of cups of water, the squash which was mostly cooked and cut into cubes, some julienned zucchini and a can of plum tomatoes. As it neared readiness, I added a can of chick peas. After serving into large clay bowls, I squeezed half a lemon into the soup, chopped a mixture of parsley and cilantro and stirred that in, and cut up an avocado. Then I took a spoonful of hot mango chutney and put a big dollop on top of everything.

This soup/stew is gypsy-like in that it is Spanish in flavour and spice and that it works with the scenery i.e. any green or orange vegetable suits the rhythm.

Try a bottle of 120 Chardonnay 1995 from the Santa Rita winery in Chile which retails for $9.60 at the LCBO.

Secret Ingredients

Sometimes, especially in March, we tire of the dinners we seem to eat over and over again: stir fries, lentil dahl, pastas with whatever is in the fridge, chicken curries over egg noodles, homemade pizzas, hearty stews, grilled vegetables, rice salads, frittatas. I crave the flavour of spring - something new, something varied and something bursting with freshness. I have found however that during this blah period in winter I'm experimenting more and more with my stalwart dishes by adding a zing of exotica into the mix.

I have a few tricks that I'll unveil with time but for now I'll leave you with a twist to your stir fry. I tend to start my wok with oil, garlic and fresh ginger. Then I add vegetables usually a blend of a few carrots, chopped cauliflower, cut green beans, slivers of broccoli, cubes of tofu, some bean sprouts and thinly sliced green cabbage. Sometimes I add twists of lemon, or grate lemon zest into the mix, add a splash of tamari and some mustard seeds and then toss with chopped cilantro. But lately I've been craving something subtlely sweet and I've found my fix in maple syrup. I make a little cup of maple syrup, fresh lemon juice, a Tbsp of curry powder, some safflower oil, a tsp of dijon mustard, some cumin seeds and then I coat the just cooked vegetables in the sauce before serving.

The Impervious Egg

While researching and writing an article about eggs (Easter time as street date and all), I uncovered some strange egg lore. I personally agree that eggs seem to taste better when they're farm fresh and picked up out of a basket still warm. But so much of our concept of taste is mythologized around our experience with our food that I know how much better things taste when they are hand picked but I wondered nutritionally about the differences between eggs.

Curiously, brown eggs carry exactly the same nutrition value as white eggs and the colour of the shell is solely related to the colour of the laying hen. Organic eggs are laid from hens that eat organic feed. Omega eggs are laid from hens that are given flaxseed supplements. Brown eggs cost more than white eggs because of the inverse cost to the farmer to feed red hens which tend to be larger than white hens. Eggs also got caught decades ago in a defamation suit about cholesterol which nearly plundered the egg industry. But really, eating cholesterol doesn't raise your cholesterol: your liver produces cholesterol and it generally comes from sugar created out of eating grains. Eggs are one of the purest sources of protein you can find and they are packed with excellent vitamins and minerals. Plus they are fairly low in calories - roughly 70 calories for a large sized hardboiled egg. Week old eggs are MUCH easier to peel (I learned the hard way) than fresh eggs (where the shell comes off in tiny peckish annoying bits and pulls off chunks of the hardened egg white).

I'm into eggs lately. They make excellent brunch dishes scrambled with swiss chard and roasted garlic and they are so easy to add to lunches that lack a certain verve. I also find eggs to be an exceptionally pretty item of food - a fragile shell enveloping a bright yolk and a milky exterior. Buying eggs for me now comes down to the politics of the hen rather than the nutritional value of the egg. If hens are kept to produce eggs at an unnatural rate for a consumer (that'd be us) to eat in luxury than I suppose the least they deserve is the opportunity to live out their dream which is to roam and to scavenge and to peck at their barn mates.

Red Pasta Sauce

I'm a Gemini which means my moods are sporadic and often erratic. I've come to terms with that but those around me sometimes do a double-take. I can go quickly from feeling desperate and overwhelmed by life to being utterly smitten with a frozen river speckled with quacking playful ducks and feeling like the world is such a magical place. This happened on the weekend: Saturday I felt isolated and lonely and like life was playing a few ungrateful jokes on me to waking up on a glorious Sunday of sunshine and taking a mini driving excursion to Unionville where there happens to be a great natural pond to skate on. And coincidentally a lot of ducks like it too.

Saturday night was a typical 9:30 pm eating event of wine and dinner in front of lit candles and a full bloomed amaryllis. One tubular stalk with an exposed root in a slothful array of dirt suddenly transforms into several trumpet flowers that illuminate the entire kitchen. Oh yes, in February life is all about simple pleasures and delights.

Miso Broth and Vermicelli

I realize I've recently become the lady of the bowl. It must be because I'm having a rather bizarre fetish with my ceramic noodle spoon and the spoon likes scooping out of a liquidy bowl more than it does scraping against a dry dinner plate of cooked meat. Tomorrow night I'm having ribs so I'll have to give over to a silver fork but tonight I'm rendez-vous-ing with my spoon for a final flush.

This is another "what do I have in the fridge that can make a dinner" meal (can you tell I'm single and live with 2 cats?). In this case, it has to do with broccoli and swiss chard, some miso paste I had been reluctant to open and make use of (does anyone else have a thing for the beauty of an unopened food parcel?), and a package of thin rice vermicelli in my pantry.

I steamed the broccoli and the chard. And I cooked the vermicelli in a broth of miso paste, a dash of sesame oil and another dash of hot sauce. I ladled the gently done vegetables into the broth and sat down to eat. This dish is so mild and delicate in flavour that any fresh herbs or sliced scallions would sort of rock its equilibrium. I kept it basic. It's a good recovery meal for anyone either feeling toxic or just plain weary.

Shrimp & Peas

Boy, am I glad I created a category called Simple One Bowl Meals because that seems to be all that I cook these days. What's a girl to do when she works full time and lives in an altered climate of hail, sleet, snow, rain showers and the occasional burst of January thunder? She's to drink lots of wine despite a recommended post holiday toxic purge and she's to cook wonderful food that takes less than 1/2 hour and costs less than $10 in groceries.

Simple Shrimp and Peas fits the bill, my friends. I had some frozen peeled uncooked shrimp as well as some frozen peas. I also found cilantro, lemon grass and tofu in my fridge. In my cupboard was a can of coconut milk. And I always keep on hand small jars of Thai Kitchen green and red curry pastes for nights like this when I want a ding of flavour without bringing out the mortar and pestle.

Spicy Asian Chicken Soup

Tonight at work, with all of these people sniffling around me, I got the incentive to find a new and startlingly exotic recipe for chicken noodle soup. I sleuthed around on the epicurious website and then amalgamated a few solid ingredients from some appealing recipes to try and recreate my own rendition of a spicy chicken Asian soup. I arrived home and promptly got into my car to drive to the Korean superstore on Bloor St W around Clinton St. This store has everything you could ever want to fill your pantry with goodies from the East but I took a small carry shopping basket so I wouldn't over do it. I work best with boundaries.

After nearly breaking my back carrying around a small basket overflowing with lemon grass, bottles of sauces, fresh herbs, goods with that typical anime packaging, a wide variety of noodles, and some frozen shrimp, I set off for home to prepare the soup.