Scones with Strawberry Jam and Cream

Did I ever mention that The LadyGirls and I have a Fairy Godmother? Well we do. Her name is Sarah and even just her name is lovely. She is beautiful and kind and classy and brilliant. And she is hipper than anybody I've ever met. Sarah is one of those rare people you meet in your life that actually wishes you well and wants you to succeed. And we have enjoyed many successes thanks to  her help and support. And just because she's so sweet and generous, I came home to a lovely jar of her homemade strawberry jam last weekend. We've been trying to get her to come on here and guest blog for us, and I only hope she'll share that jam recipe with us because I've never tasted better.

Now it's no secret that I don't bake. But just this once I decided to give it a go because I wanted to pay my respect to that beautiful jam. And to Sarah. So right now, the kitchen looks like it got hit by a bomb and the cold, nervous sweat is just now subsiding from the trauma of it all. And since I don't know anything about baking, I pulled a recipe off the internet called "Simple Scones." And for the cream, I pulled off a recipe that was called "Easy Mock Devonshire Cream." Usually I pass those over when it comes to cooking, but for baking, not so much! Oh for God sake, I just went to see who the author of the scones recipe is, and it's Pam Anderson. I can't believe that she bakes scones and yet I found them to be immensely challenging. Maybe it's a different Pam Anderson than who I'm thinking of.

You'll need:
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
8 tablespoons of frozen unsalted butter
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 large egg.
This recipe also called for 1/2 cup of raisins, but blech. That would ruin it I think.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and put your rack to the middle position
Mix all the dry ingredients. Beat the egg and sour cream in a separate bowl until smooth.
Using the large holes on your box grater, grate the butter and add to the dry ingredients.
Work it in with your fingers until it resembles course meal. (whatever that means. I just worked it till it got on my nerves) and then add your wet bowl and stir with a fork. Work it all together until you can form a ball with it. (I added a few drops of water because it seemed to dry)
Lightly flour a surface and roll it out in a circle until it's about 3/4 inch thick. Cut it into 8 triangles. I just used a pizza cutter and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 17 - 18 minutes.

While they're baking, make your cream.
1 package of softened cream cheese
1 cup of sour cream
3 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar
1 cup of heavy whipping cream

Beat the cream cheese until soft and add the sugar and sour cream and beat that for a minute or two and add the whipping cream. Once it's mixed in, turn your beater to high speed and continue beating until it's stiff. Put it in the fridge.

Once the scones have cooled, slice in half and put tons of this yummy cream on and a dollop of jam or preserves. So decadently delicious! I should bake more often. Thanks for the jam Sarah, and thanks for your friendship! xoxo

Mulligatawny Soup

Don't you think this is a weird recipe to be posting in July? Seems more like a cozy, winter soup to warm your bones. And normally it is. But with our weird climate change, I was sweltering in Delta like heat and humidity yesterday, and today I had to turn off the A/C and put the furnace on to try to warm up. Our temperature went from "can't step outside for the heat" to "can't step outside for the cold" in less than 5 hours. And I must say, I've never made Mulligatawny soup ever in July. It's depressing is what it is. I used to blame Mother Nature for the foibles in our weather patterns. But I no longer do. She has no control over the stupid and irreversible damage we've done to our own planet. So now I treasure Mother Nature as I would an ageing grandmother and try as best I can to deal with Climate Change. It's a disgrace and I take my personal share of the blame.

Now this is a very easy recipe. Quick and tons of flavour. Not to mention so easy. Especially if you have one of those little electric choppers and you're in a hurry. So I did the hurry up version of it today since it's a weekday. But on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a snowstorm blowing outside, I like to chop everything bigger and let it slow simmer all afternoon. And when I do the slow simmer, I usually use lamb instead of chicken. The flavour of the lamb is so much richer. But I'm not even sure if that's still Mulligatawny. But it's worth giving it a try next winter.

So you'll need:
1 small chopped onion
2 stalks of diced celery
1 large diced carrot
butter enough to sauté the vegetables (about 1/3 cup)
2 tablespoons of flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of curry powder (I use mild, but use medium if you love a curry heat)
1 box of organic chicken broth (homemade is better if you have it)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
1/3 cup of long grain white rice
a splash of olive oil to brown the chicken
1/2 tsp of dried thyme or 2 sprigs of fresh
1 or 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
salt and pepper
1/2 cup of cream to add just before you serve

Brown your chicken (or lamb if you're taking that route) in the olive oil and set aside
Saute the onion, carrot and celery in the butter until soft then add the flour and the curry powder and stir it all around for 3 or 4 minutes.
Add the chicken and stir it for another couple of minutes to let it absorb the flavour of the curry
And the broth, apple and rice and thyme and cover and let it simmer for about 35 - 40 minutes.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.
Whisk in the cream and serve with warm Naan bread.

So easy and so awesome! I'm actually glad that the weather went south on me today so I could enjoy this again without having to wait till I come in from shovelling snow. Enjoy friends!
(Just of note, this could easily be made vegetarian by omitting the meat and using vegetable broth and you'd still enjoy just as much flavour)

 

Creamy Three Sisters Soup with Spiced Whipped Cream

Summer is here! Thank goodness. I was beginning to think the Apocalypse was happening (and, in fact, an ice age) and we were about to try to survive it. I was imagining myself like that father from The Road, and I was thinking it would be so annoying to have to wrap rags around my feet and try to find a meaning in a soon-to-end meaningless life. (In all honesty, I know I saw The Road but I can’t tell you anything about it. I was more focused on my popcorn to butter ratio for the entire 5 hours of that movie.)

Soup isn’t necessarily a go-to for a summer meal, but I’m going to share with you a beautiful and hearty soup that celebrates some great harvest vegetables. I’ve been inspired by a new book, “The Third Plate,” by Dan Barber, and I’ve really started thinking about how we tend to focus on a large protein portion as our traditional meal. So in the spirit of Meatless Monday, let’s make a Meatless Friday too. Enjoy some vegetables, help save the planet, and learn some Indigenous history- today will be a good day!

Okay. We’re doing a fusion version of Three Sisters Soup. It’s a traditional Indigenous recipe across North America- you can find the various stories here. The traditional soup is a broth-based soup, with corn, beans, and squash- or the Three Sisters. It’s quite lovely, and lately, there’s been a movement in restaurant culture to include Aboriginal cuisine. It’s an interesting trend; using centuries-old recipes in “new” cuisine. If you are interested in delving into the honouring-vs.-appropriating debate, I encourage you to read another LadyGirl publication over in Racialicious. Kelly explores it with great depth.

In the meantime, we’ll make a creamy Three Sisters Soup. We’re going to fuse French cuisine with this soup- so instead of stirring cream into this soup (which is completely non-traditional) we are going to add a dollop (or quenelle) of spiced whipped cream on top.

The base of the soup is corn, beans and squash. I used white beans, because I think the orange colour you get from the squash and corn is really pretty. Obviously black beans would make for a strangely purple soup, but other than that, you decide. I used butternut squash as well, plus nice corn nibs. Full disclosure: I used canned beans and corn. Dried beans are possibly the least efficient use of time ever. People who buy dried beans are either cheapskates or people who read books like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, except they practice Zen and the Art of Bean Soaking. As for the corn, if you can find hominy, I recommend using that. If not, then you choose the corn you feel like using.

Start by sautéing an onion with cumin and coriander. I also used some mesquite powder, which I purchased at a very exciting new spice store in Ottawa, Cardamom and Cloves. I also have a smoked sea salt, don’t be jealy.com- you can use regular salt and pepper.

Add your veg, plus chicken stock. You can also use vegetable stock if you prefer to keep it vegetarian. This is also gluten free, and without the cream, can be vegan. It’s a great option for your hipster friends. And you know how hipsters love Aboriginal culture too.  (More reading on cultural appropriation.)

Simmer this for about half an hour (assuming all you vegetables are soft and not going in the pot dried. Don’t put anything in the pot dried- you’ll simmer this until the cows come home, otherwise.)

While this simmers, make your spiced whip. Wait until close to the end, so it doesn’t have a chance to “melt”. Since we’re only making a little whipped cream, you can do this in a large cup with an immersion blender. To your whipping cream, add a dash of chilli powder, cumin, coriander, and mesquite, or whatever southwest jazz spices you want to throw in. Whip until stiff peaks appear.

Once the soup has simmered and everything is soft, blend that. This soup is not going to be perfectly smooth, it will be a bit grainy. That’s fine. It’s going to taste delicious.

Pour into a bowl, top with a dollop of spiced whip cream. Serve immediately! And enjoy! Summer soups deserve love too.

Cashew Chicken

Hahaha I am one of these people that shoots themselves in the foot every time. Last week I put up a facebook status that said I just skip over "Easy" recipes because cooking involves time and commitment. How silly and smug of me because mostly everything I cook is easy and fun and delicious. Here is an example. And I am not a food photographer, so the photo looks like I'm serving some kind of black slime fit for crypt dwellers. But it's a soy sauce based recipe, so you're going to have to deal with that. Sometimes food tastes better than it looks! This is not pretty in photos, but oh so yummy on the fork.

You'll need:
For the marinade-
1 cup of low sodium soy sauce. Really do use the low sodium unless you're a deer in the woods and you enjoy a salt lick.
8 or 9 cloves of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
2 or 3 tablespoons of your favourite hot sauce
2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts cut into bite sized cubes
Mix everything together and let it marinade for a couple of hours covered in the fridge.

Your favourite white rice. 1 cup of rice before cooking will feed 2 to 4 people. Cook it up while the chicken is simmering.

For the sauce:
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 sliced onion
1/2 cup peanut butter - smooth or crunchy
1/2 cup water
1 carrot cut into thin matchsticks
1/2 cup roughly chopped cashews
3 sliced green onions

After the chicken has been in the marinade for a few hours, heat up the sesame oil on Med High heat in a heavy pot and add the brown sugar. Stir that in for a few minutes and add the sliced onions. If you get scared and it seems too scorchy, for God Sakes, don't be tempted to add more Sesame Oil. That shit is too strong. So add a little bit of water. Soften the onions for a few minutes and add the chicken and let it brown for about 5 minutes per side. Then add the marinade and the water. Cover it and let it simmer on Med Low heat for 25-30 minutes. Add the peanut butter and the carrots. Stir it in and let it simmer for about 10 more minutes. Roughly chop your cashews and slice your green onions and add as a garnish. You can mix your rice into the pot or keep it separate. Don't be frightened by the photo courtesy of the Crypt Kickers 5! And of course I didn't have any green onions today and I wasn't about to go to the store just to buy one thing. That's how I roll. But you should be organized and have those green onions! Enjoy my friends!

Corn and Bean Salad

No time for an amusing story today. You need a recipe for a quick and fast summer salad. Here is the easiest one ever.

You'll need (and I'm assuming you're feeding a crowd. Reduce everything by half if you aren't)
1 can of drained and rinsed black beans
2 can of drained and rinsed peaches and cream corn
4 sliced green onions
2 diced tomatoes
4 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
juice of 2 limes
salt and pepper to season

Stir it all up and let it chill for as long as you can. I'd add in a Sangria recipe here, but I realize you're in a rush and have no time for that! Enjoy!

WHISKEY! Baked Pork Chops

Well DAMMITTTTT!!! It is my life's goal to learn to cook authentic Mexican cuisine. I love Mexican food and I love Mexico and all Mexicans. The end. Love. So I ordered an expensive cookbook on line which I was hoping would assist me in achieving my goal. I shall not name the celebrity chef author since that wouldn't be very nice and my failures cannot be blamed on him. But I was very stealth and secretive about my mission since Mario thinks I spend too much money on cookbooks, so I ordered it on line so as to avoid detection on any kind of Chapters Indigo surveillance video. And every day I was tearing home from work, skidding up to the mailbox sideways on two wheels in the anticipation of its arrival. And when it finally arrived, I was breathless with excitement. I put it to the side (okay, under a pile of towels in the linen closet so I wouldn't be caught) until I had the time to really embrace it and soak up the joy. And guess what - it has the type of recipes where it says 2 cups of ancho chile sauce (page 267), 1 cup of spice mixture (page 93) serve with corn tortillas (page 60) and so on. That type of thing hurts my brain and pisses me off. I'm not running a research project here. I want to cook a recipe for Christ sakes! So I am not pleased at all with my secret purchase and I think I would have found quite a bit more joy from a new pair of sandals. That's right. Sandals. Because our winter from hell has just now finally ended!

So onto the recipe. This jumped out at me from a pop up on facebook. I can't give credit right now because I don't remember where I found it. But if I ever do, I'll edit here and give credit. I just saw "whiskey" and it had me right there. That's why I tried it and it turned out to be amazingly delicious and the chops were so moist that I couldn't believe it! Who doesn't love whiskey and who doesn't love pork? Talk about a marriage made in heaven.

You'll need:
2/3 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons of flour
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp of dried thyme or 2 sprigs of fresh, remove the stem
olive oil to brown the chop, just to coat the pan
pork chops, bone in or boneless. 4-6 of them. I used 3 since my family all flew the coop.
1 small chopped onion
1 pack of slice mushrooms. You choose. Baby bellas or whatever you like
1/2 cup of WHISKEY!

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Whisk the sour cream, water, flour salt, pepper and thyme together and set aside.
Heat the oil on med to high heat in a cast iron Dutch oven or a vessel that can go in your oven. Brown off the chops for about 5 minutes per side until they're really good and seared. Remove them from the pan and add the onions and mushrooms all at once. Reduce the heat to medium and let them get golden brown. About 5 minutes. Then add the WHISKEY! and let it simmer until nearly all of the liquid has evaporated. Whisk in the sour cream mixture and add the pork chops back in. Make sure they're covered with the sauce. Cover and bake for about an hour. These are so awesome. I served them with a side of garlic mashed potatoes which was perfect for spooning the extra sauce over. And a side of whatever veg you like. Enjoy friends! I should abandon my dream of becoming an expert Mexican cook and dedicate my life to finding boozy good recipes like this.

B & B Roasted Pear and Fennel Salad

So I have been obsessed with roasting fennel lately, because fennel is the most delicious and interesting vegetable.

My favourite recipe so far has been this one, roasted pear and fennel, with bourbon and blue cheese. I think it’s pretty on-trend, what with people loving bourbon these days, and it’s got some great bold flavours.

Plus, you can serve it in a really pretty and minimalist way, which I like too. You could also serve it as a warm salad and have the cheese melt a little! You can place it on a lovely bed of arugula, or you can skip the greens and just do the pear and fennel. Your options here are endless.

Start by slicing your pear and fennel bulb lengthwise into nicely sized wedges. Obviously, you are going to de-seed your pear by scooping out the middle bit. Place these slices on a baking sheet with olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper and a splash of bourbon. Get them all nicely coated and pop them into a preheated oven for 20 minutes (375°) or until golden. Yum!

Now your house smells amazing, so you may as well slice up that cheese. I strongly recommend some form of blue cheese for this, but depending on the one you use, you may crumble it rather than slice it. I used an amazing blue chèvre, with an ash rind, so that was quite special.

Let’s do a quickie vinaigrette to go with the salad. Start with a few splashes of olive oil, with a kick of a great balsamic and maybe a little extra splash of the hooch! (This is a small splash, not a shot. Don’t get dramatic.) Finish with salt and pepper, then whisk.

Now, layer your salad in an attractive way and serve with a drizzle of your bourbon vinaigrette. Those extra pieces of pear and fennel happen to refrigerate nicely for tomorrow’s salad too! But you may want to take it easy on the hooch vinaigrette if you work in an office, lest anyone get any kind of notions about you.

Enjoy!