Green Fridge Soup 2

Well, it was that time again. Clean up the vegie drawer and make soup. This time I had a lot of leaves and stalks left over from rapini. Added some left over broccoli stalks, plus some asparagus, threw in some onion, garlic and a potato for thickening, blend and voila!!! Soup.

Bit of a bite from the rapini. Yum.

Pork, Aubergine and Long Squash Nam Prik

Picked up a long squash at the market. This is a vegetable I've seen but never bought or used before. So to find a recipe that does it justice. I have a Thai Vegetarian Cookbook that had a recipe for a northern Nam Prik that used the long squash as well as Chinese aubergine, so I decided to add some pork and voila! The long squash is a lot like zucchini on the inside in appearance, but it has a much more pronounced flavor. Sauce included garlic, chilies, ginger, soya, rice vinegar and sesame oil as well as coconut milk. It was quite lovely with basmati rice.

Saag Paneer with Chapati

Curry night, so I decided to try something vegetarian using Paneer, an Indian style cheese. Found several recipes but settled on one that uses spinach as well. Then to keep things real.... I needed to make an Indian flat bread from srcatch rather than settle for store bought. So Chapatis.

The paneer was marinated in oil infused with turmeric, cumin, garlic and chilies till it turned golden in colour, then fried till crispy. Finely chopped spinach and yogurt was added to complete the dish.

I have made chapatis before but that would be 30 + years ago, so I had to learn how to do this all over again. Quite easy actually, and turned out to be a hit.

Chipotle Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

I was planning  a small dinner party and I wanted to do something a bit different. I was going to make sweet potato mash, but I found a recipe on line for a Scalloped Sweet Potato dish made with Chipotle. That sounded like it would go well with pork tenderloin.

Preparation was quite simple, but rich. No flour, only layers of sliced sweet potatoes alternating with a chipotle infused heavy cream.

It had a kick as well as sweet and as smooth as silk on the tongue. Definitely warrants a repeat, maybe with turkey!

Roasted Jicama

Jicama is an odd root vegetable for me at least. It is a root. looks like a big flat, round potato. I've had it raw with other vegies and dip. Found this recipe for a roasted version that looked interesting. Peel and cut into 1 inch cubes. Toss with bit olive oil, minced garlic, half a chopped onion, rosemary and other herbs. Roast for an hour. The jicama stayed crunchy. Different taste sensation that way. Smelled divine and tasted unusual. Crisp, slightly sweet overlaid with the garlic and herbs. Would try this again.

Could make a nice alternative for potatoes with a whole lot less calories it seems.

Curried Celeriac and Apple Soup

Well, its time to make soup again. I had a celeriac or celery root in my larder which I had originally bought to make a pea soup, but then I decided to add some to mashed potatoes and now I needed to use up the rest. Looking through my Soup cookbook, I found a recipe with leeks and apple. Easy to make and puree. The result was a golden colour. Tastes nutty, a bit tart with the light hint of curry.

Honey Lemon Whole Wheat Bread

Looking for a bread recipe with a difference, I stumbled upon this recipe for a Honey Lemon Whole Wheat Bread in my Bernard  Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. The honey lemon combination sounder quite lovely, so I decided to give this one a go. Reading the directions though, I discovered that this recipe required a very short (20 minute) first rising, followed by a  2 to 24 hour second rising in the refrigerator. I'd not come across a cold rise recipe before so this intrigued me as well as the ingredients.

 I did the 2 hour second rising, with fabulous results. Bread rose properly above the pan, and came out of the oven with a lovely crust. Smell was divine. Lovely bit of tang from the lemon rind, with a hint of sweetness. Not a sandwich bread, but great toasted with butter and jam.

Doing a bit of research, I discovered that cold rise is quite an old method, much used in artisan baking these days. Apparently this technique will let the flavours develop more than with a fast rise, and can be used with any recipe. So if for some reason I was to start making bread, and then something came up that prevented me from baking it within the normal time span, I could just throw the dough in the fridge an deal with the baking when I had time. This could be as long as 3 days later. I did not know that. I will try the long cold rise on a recipe soon.

Turkey with Coconut, Ginger and Lime Sauce

Leftover turkey and what not? What to do with them that's not the normal Turkey A La King! Looked around my fridge and pantry and found I also had some leftover fresh coconut. Add a lime, plus fresh ginger root, dash of maple syrup and some sambal oelek. Served over lemongrass rice and we had a whole new dish. Next time I try the thus sauce recipe, I might dial up the flavours a bit and try in over seared scallops.

Rye and Wheat Crackers

So why not crackers? I've been seeing recipes for them in a number of sources, and I've been ready to try for a while. This was a recipe for rye and wheat crackers from my Whole Foods Cookbook. Very easy to make. Baking was a bit tricky. I took them out at the suggested time and let them cool, but they were not quite crisp. So I put them back in for a couple of minutes. Had to be careful, because they turned dark fast.

Tasty and crisp, but they don't look too glamorous. Oh well.

This is the before photo. They were darker when they came out again,. Great with cheddar.

Bannock

I've wanted to try making bannock for some time. I was spurred on by a recipe in the newspaper a while ago that I cut out, but it was for a large quantity and it was more or less deep fried. Since we were having a hearty soup for dinner last night, I decided to see if I could find another recipe more suited to our small family. I finally found one that had the option of baking the bannock.

It was good, I must say, though I though it might puff up a bit. Perhaps that only happens if its fried in a pan.

The history of bannock as a staple of the Scottish and the Irish is quite interesting, especially since its been so much adopted in Aboriginal cooking in North America. I discovered that almost every town in Scotland has its own version.

Rose Water Custard with Cardamom

I was looking for an interesting desert that might use some items in my spice cabinet that I do not use too often, specifically cardamom. Came across a recipe on-line, for a custard that uses this spice with the bonus addition of rose water instead of the more common vanilla flavouring. With a sprinkling of chopped pistachios on top. It is yummy, definitely one to repeat.

Ginger Pear Preserve ...with Lime

I bought a bunch of pears recently with the intention of making a pear tart, but then company could not come, so no need for a tart. But what to do with the pears? I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks for a Ginger Pear preserve which had the additional element of lime juice and lime rind.

Nice bit of zing from the ginger and a bit of tartness from the lime.