Fall is in the air

And with fall a whole new spectrum of tasty meals that revolve around soups, stews, pumpkin, squash, hearty greens like kale, beets, apples, pears, cranberries - joy. At this Thanksgiving (Canadian that is), we tried out a whole slew of new recipes. Most if not all were ecstatically received! My particular favorite was Richard Blaise's (YES TOP CHEF) carrot osso bucco with creamy polenta. The rest of the table swooned over the parmesan roasted butternut squash, kale, and brussels sprouts from the little yellow kitchen blog.

Thanksgiving Day walk

I did a bit of modifying on the carrot osso bucco once I realized I would be making mushroom stock from scratch. (DO THIS IN ADVANCE!) As it turned out, the mushroom stock recipe that I made had me strain out the mushrooms, which I did. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to save or discard the mushrooms, but they were still jam-packed with flavor so I simply stirred them through the carrot osso bucco once it was finished and they were marvelous! I actually can't imagine serving this recipe without cooked mushrooms.

Carrot osso bucco (made with home-grown carrots)

 The only comment I would make about the recipe is when I used masala curry powder, I found the clove factor a bit overpowering. If I made the recipe again, I would reduce the curry powder, maybe 3/4 of the amount and add at least 1- 2 Tbs. worchesthire sauce (this of course, unvegetarianizes the recipe but for us pescatarians, not an issue). The upside of this recipe is that it necessitates a trip to a gourmet kitchen store/food store to buy porcini powder!  Isn't that fancy? I was fascinated to see that french porcini powder was at least one and a half times the cost of italian procini powder. Who knew?

Parmesan roasted butternut squash, kale, and brussel sprouts

Coffee cream delight (The Grit cookbook)

Carrot Osso Bucco.

Use the recipe carrot osso bucco. I doubled it to serve 5 with leftovers.  Changes - decrease masala curry powder to 1 1/2 tsp for a doubled recipe and add 3-4 Tbs Worcestershire sauce. Try adding 1 1/2 Tbs dried porcini powder to start and after braising or 1 hour and 15 minutes, if the vegetables are tender, strain all the liquid out and reserve. Place the carrots and onions in a casserole dish and combine with mushrooms from stock (these should be warm/hot). Then reduce the braising liquid on the stove. Once the sauce is the desired thickness add salt and pepper to taste with more porcini powder if needed. Pour sauce over vegetables and serve with creamy polenta.

Mushroom Stock. Use the recipe, but replace the white wine with water or a low sodium vegetable  broth. Add 1/2 tsp thyme - 1 tsp thyme and 1/4 - 1/2 c. freshly chopped parsley.

Creamy Polenta:  I used this recipe - can reduce half-and half or replace with milk. Also add another 1/2 - 1 c. of water at the end to make polenta less thick as needed. Reduce butter to 2 Tbs. You can leave out the butter and parmesan if desired. (I made exactly the amount in the recipe).

Parmesan Roasted Brussels, Butternut Squash and Kale. I doubled the amount of brussels (approx 25-30) and used 2 bunches of kale (perhaps 8 c. chopped?). I also prepared the vegetables separately. To do this, I doubled the seasonings and then used roughly a third for each vegetable. The squash was tossed with seasonings and roasted for about 40 minutes without broiling. About 10 minutes before the squash was expected to finish, I sauteed the kale in a bit of oil briefly, added 1/4 c. of water, covered and steamed briefly - 4-5 minutes - check for burning and removed the lid to finish cooking, stirring through the seasoning and crisping up in the skillet. With the brussels I tried a similar method but wasn't at pleased. They could be roasted for about 20 minutes after tossing with seasoning (time with expected end time for squash) - this would be easiest. Or you could steam them for 3-5 minutes, roll them in seasoning and saute another 3-5 minutes just until tender. DO NOT OVERCOOK THEM.

We also cooked a favorite - kale mashed potatoes from epicurious!

Lastly for our dessert, I turned to the Grit for a coffee cream delight tart that was smooth, silky, a hint of coffee and a hint of chocolate. Perfect alongside a cup of strong coffee.

Good Friday Fish Supper

Since this is the first year that I can recall not having spent Easter with my family and thus planning a large Easter supper, wife and I decided to mix things up a bit and have a very small Good Friday supper with one other friend and a Holy Saturday brunch! Yes I know it's not time to celebrate yet, but it definitely is becoming something like a long food vigil of cooking my way towards Easter.

Friday's fish supper ended up including: Newfie salt fish cakes (salt fish, mashed potato, & onions fried up in delectable patties) courtesy of M., roasted cauliflower tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic and Cajun spices, fish in spicy coconut cream sauce, bakes, and homemade mango cardamom ice cream. Suffice to say, the meal started around 6pm and didn't end til about 11:45pm. And yes we could have fed about 6 other people.

I'm most excited to share about the fish in spicy coconut cream sauce because a) the sauce is amazing and b) it came in the most lovely homemade cookbook that one of our friends sent us as a Christmas present last year. Although this dish is made with fish, this sauce would be incredible served over any assortment of vegetables, tofu, and/or rice! I also have to share about the bakes because a) they're Guyanese and b) they're a type of fried bread - who doesn't love fried bread?? Thanks N. for introducing me to bakes! oh yes and c) because I'm afraid of frying things in lots of oil, so I am working on conquering this particular fear!

Bakes (makes about 30-40 bakes; cut the recipe in half to serve 2-3 people)
4 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c. sugar (can reduce down to 1/4 c. sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 Tbs margarine
1/4 - 1/2 c. water
canola oil

1. Mix the dry ingredients together and cut in the margarine (can use your hands if you want).
2. Add water, starting with 1/4 c. and mix. Continue adding water until you have a stiff, soft dough that sticks together. (if you end up adding more than 1/2 c., it's probably okay. I just kept adding water until it seemed dough-like).
3. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes until smooth, but not too soft.
4. Let sit for 30-45 min.
5. Roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle 1/2" thick.
6. Cut into squares, rectangles, or triangles, as your heart desires. Piece size should be no bigger than 2" x 4".
7. Heat canola or veggie oil in a cast iron pan on med-high heat (~ 1/4" deep). Fry bakes til dark golden brown on each side.

Fish in Spicy Coconut Cream (serves 4-6)
2 tsp canola oil
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
2- 3 Tbs minced fresh ginger
2 small red chillies, thinly sliced (can use dried chillies)
1 1/2 c. veggie stock
400 mL can coconut milk
1 tsp - 1 Tbs fish sauce*
1/2 tsp turmeric*
1 stick fresh lemon grass, beaten, and chopped into pieces
Juice of 1 lime
1 Tbs tamarind paste*
1/4 c. panela (or palm sugar, raw sugar, etc. even brown sugar)*
4 - 6 white fish fillets (a firm fish like cod or tilapia)
2 green onions, thinly sliced 

*all starred ingredients were added to taste but not carefully measured. Remember you can start small and always add more but you can't undo too much turmeric or fish sauce!

1. Heat oil in a big wok or frying pan (BIG). Add garlic, ginger, and chili, frying until fragrant.
2. Add stock. coconut milk, fish sauce, turmeric, lemon grass, lime juice, tamarind paste, and panela, bringing to a boil. Let simmer for 10-15 min, tasting and adjusting as flavors as needed.
3. Add fish fillets, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until fish is cooked (about 6-10 min depending on the size of the fillets). Don't overcook the fish!
4. Add the green onions to the sauce (or just add as garnish on top) and serve the fish and broth over rice.