Chicken Noodle Soup with an Asian twist

When the evening is rainy and you don’t feel like venturing out to the store for dinner fixings, there is nothing like big bowl of soup to get you through the night.   Especially when it is easy and quick to prepare, and good for you.

I had to do a bit of digging into the freezer, the fridge and the pantry to see what was available, and in the process came up with a new soup recipe.  I have been reading similar recipes for years but have never tried this combination of ingredients before.

I loved the richness that the mushrooms and their broth added, the bright green of the spinach, the play of textures with the tofu and rice noodles, the saltiness from the tamari & miso paste…I could go on.  In case you haven’t guessed, this soup will definitely be made again and soon.

Chicken Noodle Soup – Asian style (serves 2)

1.  Cover 15 grams of dried mushroom with boiling water and let soak for 10 minutes.  Squeeze out the mushrooms (reserving the broth) and roughly chop.  You can use fresh mushrooms as well but I like the “meatiness” and variety of using dried mushrooms.

2.  Heat 500 grams of chicken stock in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.

3.   When stock is heated, stir in 1 tbsp of tamari (or soy saucee) and 1 tbsp of miso paste.

4.  Add two generous handfuls of baby spinach, 50 grams of rice noodles (I broke these up in pieces before adding) and the mushrooms along with their broth. Mix together and cover.  Cook until noodles are soft.

5.  Add 100 grams of chopped firm tofu, turn heat down to low and let simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Serve & enjoy!

You could add slivered green onions as a garnish, use soba instead of rice noodles, substitute with vegetable broth if you want to keep this vegetarian.  So many options…

 

 

Making up for lost (summer) time: Gazpacho

Creamy Gazpacho with Avocado

Oh my!   We are now less than two weeks away from Labour Day.  Summer is flying by and already the mornings here in Toronto are getting cooler…I saw my first leaf drop yesterday when I was out walking the pup.

With this, I realized that I had not made gazpacho yet this summer, which is one of my summer stand-bys.  Thing have been busy and actually, when you think about it, late August / early September is a great time for this recipe as it relies on fresh tomatoes as a base.

One of the reasons I love gazpacho – beyond the fact that it is so easy because everything is just thrown in a blender or food processor –  is that you can adjust it in so many ways:  making it creamy with the addition of bread crumbs and/or almonds, varying the ratios of tomatoes to cucumber and peppers, levels of seasoning, types of garnishes, etc.  And if you are in the mood to clear out the vegetable crisper, it is a great way to extend the use of the vegetables you have on hand.

Regardless of the recipe you follow, or the ingredients you are working with, I believe that there are a few key things to creating a great gazpacho:  ripe luscious vegetables, good quality olive oil and excellent sherry vinegar (believe me, the vinegar is what will make this dish sing!).

I don’t normally make a creamy gazpacho but had some bread crumbs to be used up along with some almonds in the pantry so here’s the recipe I used last night.  It seems like there are many steps but, trust me, this doesn’t take more than about 15 minutes in total to prepare.

Gazpacho (for tw0)

1. Coarsely chop one red pepper (after seeding).  

2.  Coarsely chop one cucumber.   I used a field cucumber which I peeled and then seeded before chopping but you could use an English cucumber as long as you peel it before chopping.

3.  Coarsely chop 1/2 of a medium-sized red onion.

4.  Coarsely chop 3 large tomatoes after peeling.  The easiest way to do this is to make an X mark with a knife at the base of each tomato, place in a large bowl and cover with boiling water.  After two minutes, rinse the tomatoes in cold water and the skins should slip off easily.

5.  Combine the pepper, cucumber, red onion and tomatoes in a blender or food processor along with 75 grams of bread crumbs and 35 grams of toasted almonds.  (You can easily leave out the bread & almonds).  Pulse until smooth.

6.  Add 50 mL of good quality olive oil, 1.5 tbs of sherry vinegar, and then salt & pepper to taste.  Pulse again.

7.  Chill for at least two hours and then serve.  I used diced avocado as a garnish but you could also use parsley, croutons, cilantro…whatever takes your fancy.

As I said above, there are so many versions of gazpacho…what are your favourites?

 

For My Mum: Spinach Goma-Ae

Black Sesame Spinach Goma-Ae

What are your rituals when you return to your home town after being away for many years?  I left Vancouver 16  years ago for Toronto in what was  intended to be an 18 month stay while I went to school…and, yet, hereI am still here in Toronto.

There are many things I miss about summer in Vancouver:  running around the Stanley Park Sea Wall, celebrating the end of the Grouse Grind with a beer at the top of the mountain, swimming lengths at Kits Pool, gathering & enjoying great food at Granville Island, picnics on Kits Beach, the Museum of Anthropology (if just to see the amazing Bill Reid sculpture), Bard on the Beach…and the list could go on and on…

But one thing that I always do when I am home for a visit, no matter the time of year, is indulge in a sushi/sashimi feast with my mother.  We may order a big box in to enjoy at home or we may go out, but a visit home is not complete without a big “sushi feed”.

And we always have to include an order of Spinach Goma-Ae – as it my mother’s favourite.  When I came across this recipe recently, I decided to try it out in honour of her birthday a few weeks ago.

Spinach Goma-Ae (for 2 – 3 servings)

1.  Add about a cup of water to a large pot over medium heat and throw in about 440 grams (about 16oz) of baby spinach.  Cover and let cook for about 15 minutes.  Check every five minutes, stir, and remove from heat when the spinach is wilted.

2.  Dump the wilted spinach in a large colander in the sink and run cold water over to stop the cooking process.  Then squeeze out the excess water from the spinach to get it as dry as possible before stage 5 below.

3.  Toast 35 grams of black sesame seeds.  You can use white sesame seeds; black is just so much more dramatic!  And you can use your toaster oven or a small skillet on the stove.  Just make sure that you don’t burn them.

4.  Once toasted, grind them into small pieces: you can use a mortar & pestle or a wee food processor for this stage.  When ground, add about 1 tbsp of sugar and grind in.  Then add about 4 tsp of tamari sauce (you can use soy sauce as a substitute) and mix all together into a paste.

5.  Remove the spinach from the colander to a cutting board and chop up into fine pieces.

6.  Mix the chopped spinach with the sesame seed paste.  Serve cold as a side dish.

 I find that the tamari/soy sauce adds enough salti-ness to offset the sugar but you may want to adjust for taste.  I’ve also tried this substituting green beans for spinach which worked out well: you could also try the sesame seed paste with blanched chard or kale if that is available.

Celebrating local bounty: Pea Pesto & Prusciutto Crostini

Pea Pesto & Prosciutto Crostini

We did something different this past long weekend.  We stayed in town rather than joining the mass exodus out of the city, and celebrated Simcoe Day with a few friends in the back yard on Saturday night.  And what fun was had!   All I need to say is that Ontario peaches were a-flambee at 1am…

We decided to focus on local food for the menu so we visited a great farmers’ market near by on Saturday morning.  We stocked up on gorgeous seasonal stuff from the area: corn on the cob, potatoes, onions, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, peas, tomatoes, and pork ribs.  And thus the cooking began…

After the long hard winter and short spring, I really appreciate even more what a pleasure it is to live in an area that delivers such amazing produce.  As they say, “Good Things Grow in Ontario…”

Our dinner guests did not know the “locavore theme” but obviously were aligned as everyone brought different Ontario wines to sample…

In addition to bruschetta made from local tomatoes, I also wanted to create an appetizer that used our fresh peas to their advantage.   Here’s my recipe for Crostini with Pea Pesto & Prosciutto:

Pea Pesto & Prosciutto Crostini (for about 20 crostini)

1.  Set your oven on low broil.  Slice a whole wheat baguette into 1 inch thick slices on an angle.  Cover the surface of a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the bread slices on the sheet.  Spray/brush with olive oil and put under the broiler.  After one side is brown (usually about 5 minutes but watch closely as they move from slightly brown to burnt quickly!), remove and turn over.  Spray/brush other side with olive oil and put under broiler for another 5 minutes (again – watch closely!).  When browned on both sides, remove from oven and set aside.

2.  Start about 3 cups of water boiling in a big pot while you shell about 1 kg of fresh peas. Optional: I add sprigs of mint to the water as it starts to boil as mint & peas just seem to go together.  

3.  Add the shelled peas to the boiling water and watch closely.  Remove from heat as soon as the peas are cooked.  Drain immediately & rinse with cold water.  Optional: reserve the mint leaves to add to the puree if you wish.

4.  Set aside a few choice peas as garnish.  

5.  Toast a generous handful of pine nuts in your toaster oven or in a small pan.  Make sure they do not burn.

6.  Using a food processor, puree peas along with toasted pine nuts, a splash of olive oil, some plain yogurt and/or mayonnaise (depending on your taste) and salt & pepper to taste.  You may need to play with these ingredients to get the consistency you want.  Optional: add the mint leaves.

7.  Generously spread the pesto on crostini and add thin slices of prosciutto.  Garnish with reserved peas.

What a wonderful way to start a meal!

 

 

 

 

A simple meal of oysters

Oyster Feast

Although not everyone is a fan, I love raw oysters.  However, I don’t really eat them often in Toronto as they never seem quite “fresh” enough…but when on an island renowned for its oysters, oh my, time to indulge!

The SO and I just spent a wonderful four days on Prince Edward Island.  The weather was great, we were staying with the SO’s brother in a gorgeous location overlooking the ocean, we were outdoors nearly the whole time and…we ate lobster and oysters every day we were there.

On Sunday, we picked up three dozen oysters – plenty for four people…

Fresh oysters on the half shell, drizzled with some vodka, spritzed with lemon juice and dusted with ground black pepper…heaven!

A beautiful place, good friends, sunshine, an ocean view, wine and oysters.  Does life get any better?