Presto. Cilantro Pesto

I've always wondered what to do with that extra cilantro sitting in the fridge.  Most often after one use I end up tossing it, which is a terrible feeling for a person who absolutely cannot waste.  This time around I couldn't bear to let another good bunch go bad, so while it was still perky and green I tried to imagine creative ways to put it to use.  This pesto recipe was the inspired dish.  Basil pesto is awesome but because the taste is so familiar, replacing it with cilantro is a completely refreshing familiar taste.  The lime gives it a light tanginess, and the variety of nuts give it great texture. Cilantro also has the benefits of containing antiviral, antibacterial and antioxidant properties (among many others), making it an ideal germ fighter for this winter season.  And because there is no cooking involved, pesto is incredibly quick to make.  Easy, tasty and healthy are all good in my books, and now in my recipe book too :o)

Recipe for Cilantro Pesto 

• 1 large bunch of fresh cilantro, washed and dried thoroughly (about 3 cups, loosely packed)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup mix of *pine nuts, walnuts and almonds (or any one or two of them)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

*I like to use raw nuts but roasted are fine too.

Roughly chop up the cilantro leaves and stems.  Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Delicious with pasta, in a sandwich, as a dip or served over fish or chicken.  Makes about a cup and a half.  

Getting the Skinny on Bean Curd Skin

When I was a young Jennifer, I used to love it when my mom would add bean curd to her soups. Already chock-full of flavour from carefully simmered pork bones, Chinese veggies and herbs, the curds didn't so much add flavour, as they did texture and substance. But before those words were in my vocabulary, I just enjoyed watching my mom take those long, dry, wrinkly curd sticks and break them over the stock pot. Soon after their immersion, they would puff into shape and become completely different entities. It was science in the kitchen. My sister and I used to call the rehydrated curds "blankets", because of the way the soft sheets floated and gathered, covering the soup's surface. And after sitting in the soup for but a few moments, they quickly absorbed the soup's flavour, making them deliciously easy to slurp up.

Nowadays, you can still buy dried bean curds sticks at most Chinese markets, but about a year ago, I discovered them fresh. At first I was puzzled as to what to do with them. They didn't look like the ones I knew. They were flat, folded, and moist! I recollected the bean curd skin dishes I'd had at some Buddhist vegetarian restaurants, and those were good but deep-fried, and deep-frying at home can get messy. Plus, bean curd skin is rich in iron and calcium, and I wanted to appreciate their nutritional value by not burning them into oblivion. Thanks to a kind lady I met at T& T, I now have a quick and flavourful recipe for fresh bean curd skin. Thanks again kind lady wherever you are!

• Cut the fresh bean curd into squares.
• In a small bowl, mix equal amounts of soy sauce and *oyster sauce. Add enough water to make the sauce a little runny.
• Cut up some green onion and cilantro.
• Heat up a frying pan on medium heat with a little oil.
  
• Using chopsticks, dip the bean curd squares into the sauce, place them in the pan, and sprinkle on the cilantro and green onions.
• Once the bean curds are cooked through, eat them hot over a bed of steaming white rice. So good...
  

(*I like to use Lee Kum Kee brand Vegetarian Mushroom Flavoured Stir-Fry Sauce. It's a tasty, MSG-free oyster sauce alternative.)

Bean curd is made from the skin that forms at the surface when soybeans are boiled to make soy milk. This skin is skimmed off and formed into dried bean curd sticks or sheets, or fresh bean curd skin. Fresh bean curd skin can be bought at T&T Supermarket in the refrigerated section. The Honaji brand is my favourite. They use non-GMO soy beans and are a local company situated in Coquitlam. They make other soy products as well including tubs (now that's thinking!) of sweetened soft tofu dessert.

Roll With Me Hungry!

(a nod to Etta James for title inspiration)

Vietnamese Salad Rolls snuggling cozily

Vietnamese Salad Rolls are one of the things that I love to order when hungry, in a hurry, and not wanting to feel comatose after a large meal. When out for a bite, I usually eat a lot and gravitate towards set menus. This is mostly because of my rather grand appetite, an inability to decide on what to order (because I want everything), and because a variety of foods usually provides the full range of flavours I need to feel satisfied. Vietnamese Salad Rolls are not considered a full meal, but after eating a few, can satisfy just as a full meal can. Why? Because these tubular delights are filled with protein, fresh vegetables and starch. And when dipped in its accompanying sauce, achieves a perfect savoury flavour balance. I love the Salad Roll!

And thankfully, I now have a method for making these morsels that puts them on my regular menu at home. I had been all but discouraged in the past after creating too many rolls with holes in them. In retrospect, I had probably put too much filling in each, but it does take care not to tear the paper while rolling. My current method is virtually tear-free, and the recipe for the sauce is a true winner. I have to give kudos to one of my Vietnamese students for this recipe because it makes these rolls rock.

The ingredients for the rolls are: round rice paper, cooked vermicelli noodles, and the filling of your choice. Thinly sliced pork and prawns boiled, de-veined and sliced lengthwise are traditional, but this time I decided to use deep-fried tofu, green leaf lettuce, carrots and cilantro. Basil tastes great in this too.

For the sauce you will need: 3 tbsp hoisin sauce, 2 tbsp coconut milk, 1 tbsp peanut butter, a minced clove of garlic, and oil. Mix it all together in a small saucepan, add water for the desired consistency and taste, and stir at medium heat until it bubbles. Turn the heat off and serve.

Now for the rolling. In the past, I have rolled it with the rice paper open, (and this is the way it's done at the restaurants), but this is the trick I am most pleased with: folding the rice paper in half before you roll it. This way, the skin is thicker, and it is easier to keep the filling together as you roll without any tearing. It seems simple but it made a big difference for me. I think it makes them look nicer too, because the stuffing sticks out at each end enticingly. And after the first bite, you will be enticed into another and another. That's because Vietnamese Salad Rolls really are fresh, filling, and flavourful all in one. And perhaps, a little too fast to eat!

Stick It To Ya

A lot of good food comes skewered; sometimes on a stick and even sometimes on a stake, like the delectable (yet grotesque to look at) roasted suckling pig. As for the stick, there's souvlakia, kebab and the venerable satay. Satay was my first taste of skewered bliss and still remains my favourite. I remember childhood picnics with family and friends gathered around the hibachi, awaiting the taste of my mom's super thinly sliced, perfectly seasoned chicken and beef satay. She made it Malaysian style (of course), with her peanut sauce side that I swear is the best there is. One day, I will attempt to make Malaysian satay and sauce myself, (with my mom's guidance of course), but for my first try at stick food, I stuck to the simple: putting stuff on a skewer and popping it into the oven.

It may already be evident that I do love meat, so I'm not sure what came over me, but I was actually at a meat saturation point when I decided to make this meal. So, this is actually a vegetarian dish, and one that could be substantial and flavourful enough to satisfy the strictest of carnivores.

Ingredients: firm tofu, baby peppers or bell peppers, crimini mushrooms, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and marinade (see below).

Instructions: Soak wooden skewers in water to prevent them from blackening in the oven. Cut up and marinate tofu for a few hours or overnight in a seasoning of your choice. (I used a simplified Indian-style mix of yogurt, cumin, coriander, cayenne and salt.) Cut up larger veggies and marinate whichever ones you'd like to add more flavour to. (I marinated the red onion and crimini mushrooms in garlic, salt and olive oil and tossed the tomatoes and peppers in oil only with a sprinkle of salt.) Thread the ingredients onto the skewers, and place on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

The skewers taste great on their own, but if you love sauce like I do or have a lot of mint in the garden, this is a great dip to accompany the meal, especially if you're using a curry-ish marinade.

Mint Coconut Chutney: Blend together: 2 jalapeño chilies (de-seeded if you don't want too much heat), 2/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes, 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest, 2 cups packed fresh mint leaves, 2 tablespoons water, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, and lemon juice and salt to taste. (Add a shallot and a clove of garlic too if you want more depth of flavour and more kick.)

~~~

I have to say that I was quite happy with this veggie meal on sticks, and my guy loved it. (I think he was at meat saturation point too.) But for the next skewer try, I've decided that I'm going to have to stick it to the veggies. There will be meat!

Oh My Gourd

Gingery Butternut Tater Soup

Many times over the years, I'd heard my colleagues share the virtues of their latest blended soups during lunch break. I was inspired, and they were always very encouraging about how easy they were to make, but I wasn't a creamy soup maker. With the sole exception of congee, my soups were of the thin sort: thin soup with noodles or rice, meat and vegetables. That was my thing. But those lunchtime soups looked good and smelled good, real good, and I decided it was my time to make one. Well, it's been several years since I decided that, but I finally made it happen last week; I created my first creamy blended soups with winter squash as my inspiration. And I must say that it was worth the wait: very tasty and truly super easy just like they said it would be. Now my thing is soup thick or thin.

Gingery Butternut Tater Soup: Cut up, core and peel a butternut squash, and peel and cut up some potatoes. (I used a 2:1, squash to potato ratio.) Cover in chicken stock and boil until soft. Add about 2 tablespoons of finely ground fresh ginger. (Add it in after boiling to keep the fresh zing of the ginger, but you can put it in to boil as well for a milder zing.) Blend it all together with a tabletop or hand-held blender. Add fresh ground pepper, spoon it in and feel your tummy warm.

Leeky Nutty Buttercup Soup

For this recipe: Cut up, core and peel a small buttercup squash, and roughly cut up the whites of one leek. Cover with chicken stock and boil until soft. Add in about 1/2 to 1 cup of smooth peanut butter. Add a dash of cayenne for a small kick, and a splash of apple cider vinegar for brightness, if desired. Blend it together. Fresh ground pepper on top is a must. For some reason it tastes a little of split pea soup! Yummy autumn goodness.

(The thing I love most about these soups is that the flavour combinations are endless. Next time I will try variations with carrots, corn, celery, onions, sweet potatoes, tomato..., and then there are the herbs and spices...!)

All Hail Kale Chips!

Kale from my mother's garden. Thanks Mom!

One of my favourite memories from early childhood is of my mother's garden. It was in the back yard of our green and white Vancouver special and was the tiny oasis of our dead end East Van street. This tall garden (to a tiny me) was like a protective wall that kept me away from what was behind it: a gravel pit for u-turning cars, and a great big unknown ravine which sunk into the depths of who knew what. (I'm sure it was a lovely creek, but I was a toddler then and was too afraid to find out.)

She grew a lot of veggies in that small space, and I remember tiptoeing with care through the stalks of sweet corn, the vines of runner beans and sugar peas, and stooping to peer at the watercress growing in her inverted tire planters. Unfortunately, our dog King was not so delicate and loved digging gigantic holes in her precious garden. Her weariness with covering holes combined with a busy schedule as a working mother of three, meant that it was time to give the garden up.

Now many years later and in her retirement, my mom has begun to garden again. Cherry tomatoes, purple potatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, goji berries, chili, garlic, shallots, chives, kale, and her old favourite the runner bean, line the circumference of the backyard. I love that my mom is gardening again because I know how much she loves to grow things, and because she is so proud whenever a new thing sprouts. It's also pretty great that from her bountiful garden, come many gifts for me. This summer, every visit has come with a companion in the form of a garden goody. Lately, it has been kale. A lot of kale. I wondered what to do with all this kale, and then decided to take to the internet. And lo and behold, I found a recipe that I have made several times now and find to be one of the bestest ways to eat this hardy leaf. The answer to all this kale was Kale Chips!

The recipe goes like this: Wash and dry the kale leaves and cut out the thick stems. Tear into bite-sized pieces. Put them in a bowl and splash enough olive oil to lightly coat (not soak) the leaves. Add a dash of apple cider vinegar, salt and any other seasoning you wish. (You can use cayenne, garlic, more vinegar for more of a salt and vinegar taste.... Personally, I like the basic recipe pure and simple.) Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. These are straight out of the oven goodness, and good for you :o)

Herbal Magic

I am so happy to have a sunny patio on which to grow herbs. I have never really grown herbs before. Yes, there was the lavender plant that was only decorative really, though I did have sincere plans to use it in hot chocolate. And then there was the lemon balm that I had grabbed from a free bin at a yard sale, and which I made into tea once... This time is different. Everyday I dote on each container, checking for dryness and watering lovingly, pinching off tops for bushier growth, and squishing the life out of those damn aphids. In return, they have provided me with flavour, nourishment, and more than anything, inspiration. Lately, I have found myself creating dishes around my herbs. My mango and cucumber salad is one of them. Mix the two together, and add any herbs you wish. My favourite are cilantro and Thai basil. A hint of mint is also nice. Toss it all together with some Thai chili sauce and there you have it. It's the taste of summer in a bowl.