Two recipes, two different days, but both pretty perfect for the fall.
I made a leftover soup today with whatever I could find in my fridge. I hate wasting veggies but when they're not fresh there's nothing much you can do with them other than cook them with spices. I also eat a lot of beets. They're a super food I depend on a lot. Whenever I boil them I save the sweet broth to make a soup. I LOVE the purple color, I LOVE the taste, and I LOVE how it compliments other fall vegetables.
Carrot and Leek Fall soup
2 leeks cut the long way, wash and then chop
7 or 8 peeled and graded carrots
1 apple, peeled and sliced
4-5 cloves of garlic finely sliced
2 cups of beet broth
1 1/2 - 2 cups of water
1 cube of soup broth powder (I used chicken cause that's all I had)
1TSP of hazelnut oil, or another flavourful, rich oil
1 TBS of balsamic vinegar
cayenne pepper to taste
black pepper to taste
La Capitaine herbes and épices: or you could use any herb mix
Thyme to taste
sea salt to taste
Chop leeks and garlic. Throw half a leek and all the garlic into a pan with olive oil. Turn on medium heat. Once the leeks are soft, add balsamic vinegar and black pepper and leave on low heat until caramelized (browned).
Bring to boil beet broth, broth powder, and water. then add rest of leeks and boil until soft around 15 minutes. Lower heat to simmer and add graded carrots and sliced apple. When simmered for a few minutes, add all spices and oil and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.
Turn heat off, then take out your handy dandy hand chopper and cream the soup until leeks are no longer in chunks. Add the sauteed leeks and garlic to the creamed soup, let sit for 5 minutes then eat. Next time, I'll try sprinkling a bit of parmesan cheese on top, I think that will taste LOVELY!
Now for the tart. My brother celebrated his 32nd birthday last week and though he doesn't have a sweet tooth, he loves lemon in desserts as a compromise. My friend Krystal lent me our mutual friend Hazel's mom recipe. I love recipe chains. It was made with real lemon juice (ok... from concentrate) which amplifies the deliciousness and genuine taste of lemon.
Lemon tart in Graham cracker crust
Crust:
1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cups of melted butter.
Add melted butter to crumbs, mix, then pat down into tart pan. I baked the crust alone in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes just to crisp it up.
Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 cup of white sugar
juice and zest of 1 medium lemon (I will try this next time) or 3 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS of flour
1/4 TSP baking powder
Beat eggs and sugar until smooth and slightly thick. Add other ingredients and stir until blended. Pour over baked crust and bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.
Wait until completely cooled before cutting. Dust with icing sugar right before serving.
Store at room temperature.
I tried sprinkling a bit of lavender buds on top with the icing sugar and it was also LOVELY.
Enjoy.
Green Side Dishes
I recently moved to a new city where the climate is drastically different then my last place. I now live on the East coast of Canada where I get to see the ocean any time I want. However, my dehumidifier is pulling 20 pints of water from the air every day and a half, and I live in the second story of a house! Let's just say my baking has been affected. I hear of people baking french macaroons in tropical places.... But I seriously don't know how.
I've tried making my staple recipes, my breads, my crackers, even simple muffins are totally failing. Everything comes out... blah. I swear adapting to a new city never phases me that much since I've moved a lot, but it's the new kitchen that always makes or breaks my mood. I haven't updated in over two months!!! My kitchen isn't much less spacious then my last kitchen, but it's a square instead of a rectangular space, so it's a little harder to think about organizing a cooking experiment. I've had to build... UP.
I also haven't been inspired to cook and photograph since my camera doesn't do well in low light and so all my food pictures look pretty gross. (I plan of putting up pictures of my little kitchen soon for a post on kitchen organizational systems). I've decided to just stop feeling sorry for myself and update once and for all, flash pictures or not! I hope you enjoy.
I always thought I hated brussel sprouts. My mom tried making them a few times when I was a kid but used frozen and we all thought, including my mom, that brussel sprouts weren't for us. I had them this year at a dinner at a gorgeously fancy house with a private chef. The setting must have helped my food mood, but honestly, the sprouts were delicious so I've decided to have a try at it. For this recipe I decided to keep it simple, and it was really addictive, I made extra and wanted to gobble it all up right away:
Sweet and tangy brussel sprouts and mushroom side dish
A hand full of fresh brussel sprouts equal amount of mini cremini mushrooms
1 TBS of butter
1 TBS lime juice
2 TSP maple syrup
enough black pepper to give it a little kick salt to taste
Cut the end off the sprouts and peel all the leaves off gently. Cut mini mushrooms in half. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. When melted, throw sprouts and mushrooms in pan. Add all ingredients and gently fold in with soft spatula. I gather everything in the middle of the pan for a few minutes at a time, then stir, then scoop all of it in the middle again. I find it creates a nice little steam circle. Sautee until the sprouts have softened. And guess what? I made this again for my mom when she was visiting and she LOVED it! Success!
I also made beautiful kale chips tonight. My friend Lyz, who teaches cooking classes in Halifax and is also a certified chef and holistic nutritionist and cooks a Satisfaction Feast restaurant in Halifax taught me how to take my love of kale to a new level. I TOTALLY over-salted them however. I loved them still, but I'd never serve them to anyone. I'll hold back a bit next time.
Spicy Kale Chips
5 cups of kale leaves
Chili powder
Salt
2-3 TBS of Olive Oil
Wash the kale and cut stems off. Tear into bite size pieces and make sure all the water has dried off (I dabbed mine with a clean tea towel). Put kale in large bowl. I drizzled olive oil on top but don't put too much. Your kale should be coated but not drip! Sprinkled chili powder and salt to taste (honestly, don't put too much, the kale already has such great flavor!) mixed all over, make sure the kale is well coated. Spread on a cookie sheet evenly, don't stack the kale. Pop into a 375 degree oven and bake until the edges are brown. Keep an eye on them, it's easy to over bake/burn!
Enjoy instead of popcorn once in a while, or crumble over a salad, or eat them all straight from the oven.
Brussel Sprouts trivia: These little buds can help prevent colon cancer. Their cultivation has been dated back to ancient Rome and made an appearance in North America when French settlers brought them to Louisiana (Mais oui, le petit choux de brouxelle!), but the sprouts as they are eaten today date back to the 13th century in a place we now call Belgium! They are indeed named after the Belgian city of Brussels.
Two recipes, two different days, but both pretty perfect for the fall.
Carrot and Leek Fall soup
Chop leeks and garlic. Throw half a leek and all the garlic into a pan with olive oil. Turn on medium heat. Once the leeks are soft, add balsamic vinegar and black pepper and leave on low heat until caramelized (browned).
