Our Domicile

Current kitchen favourites,  on regular repeat:

• Smitten Kitchen’s Broccoli Slaw. Making it sans nuts so the wee one can enjoy it as well. Adding carrots in their place. Arguably not quite as awesome, but still crazy delicious.
• The world’s easiest (and very tasty) Squash and Apple soup: saute one onion in 2 tbsp of neutral oil for 5 min or so, chop one tasty winter squash (butternut is dandy), cut up 3-4 small apples; add squash and apples to onion, and saute for a few more minutes, add a light veggie stock to cover, bring a boil and simmer until soft (about 20 min). Add a dash of salt, freshly ground pepper, some freshly ground nutmeg and a very small pinch of chili flakes; puree. Serve with a dollop of sour yogurt and chopped hazelnuts. Delicious and ready in under 30 minutes with very little active cooking time.
• Elana’s Pantry Protein Bars. Helping me to beat the post-holiday sugar cravings. I make mine without the added salt or the stevia and use half the agave.

I  just made jam with Pomona’s pectin for the first time and I’m sold. My plan had actually been to use the recipe for Meyer Lemon & Blueberry Marmalade from Canning for a New Generation to make use of some of the 5lbs of fat delicious blueberries I picked up at yesterday’s Farmer’s Market, but after a morning of hunting I had to admit that Meyer lemon season has passed me by and so a back up plan had to be produced. Canning for a New Generation has a recipe for a straight blueberry jam that uses tart apples for pectin and a lower amount of sugar (much of the book uses tart apples in place of store-bought pectins which allows for lower sugar jams), but to be honest I didn’t have the world’s best sleep last night, I’m having my mother in-law over for birthday dinner this evening and had already spent the morning making a cake, and trying out a new recipe that would also involve hunting down a jelly bag just didn’t seem like a relaxing way to spend a Sunday.

That said,  I’ve always disliked overly sweet jam a preference that has only grown stronger with time, so I really didn’t want to fall back on a regular commercial pectin recipe. So, I decided to give Pomona’s a whirl, something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. The recipe I used had only 3/4 cups of sugar for 4 cups of mashed fruit, with 1/4 cup of citrus juice added, so I was hedging my bets it wouldn’t be too sweet.

I just finished making the jam, a process which took about one hour exactly from start to finish (though I haven’t yet washed the dishes), and from what I’ve gingerly licked off the spatula the results are perfection. Warning, this is really not a sweet jam. It is, as the title suggests, in fact so not sweet it’s almost tart, which to me is the best result for preserved fruit. You can taste all of the luscious blueberry goodness without a cloying added sweetness getting the way.

The recipe I used was as follows:

Low Sugar Blueberry + Lime Jam

4 cups of mashed blueberries
3/4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup of lime juice (you can also use lemon, but I had limes in need of using)
2 tsp of calcium mixture (from Pomona’s pectin packet)
2 tsp of pectin

5 1/2 quart jars sterlized and hot, ready for water bath canning

1. Wash and mash blueberries.
2. Mix your sugar and pectin and set aside.
3. Heat in a large and heavy bottomed pot (I use my Le Creuset) with the calcium water and lime juice, bring to a boil stirring to ensure no hot spots/burning on bottom of pan.
4. Add sugar/pectin and stir briskly for 1-2 minutes to dissolve pectin.
5. Return to a boil then remove from heat.

Ladle jam into hot jars and prepare for water bath canning by finger tightening lids. Process for 10 minutes, remove from water and wait for that glorious popping sound as jars seal.

I’ll admit it. I’m a fan of Gwyneth. Not a put up posters of her on my wall all Tiger Beat style fan, or even a “I must see every movie she’s ever made” fan (no plans at all to see Country Strong for example), but ever since Sliding Doors I’ve had an affection for her. And I can’t say I haven’t spent a few moment daydreaming about having a gorgeous London home, personal stylist, regular opportunities to vacation in Spain and personal friendship with designer Stella McCartney… So, I’ll admit it, I was pretty excited to get my hands on her new cookbook, My Father’s Daughter not excited enough to rush out and buy it mind you, I waited for it to come in at the library. And like all things anticipated, I tried to prepare myself for it to be a letdown, but so far, it hasn’t been. In fact, I’m planning on making the investment in my own copy the next time I’m up for a treat.

It’s a good balance of veggie recipes (important to me) with a decent number of kid and family friendly options and, at least on the veggie front, most of the recipes are quick and easy to cook. If I had any complaint, it would be that they’re actually all a little too close to dishes I already use and love. But, it’s nice to get a new twist on an old favourite. In that vein, last night I made her version of a bread salad or panzanella, though I had to adjust it a bit to make it my own.

The basic ingredients are:

• roasted red/yellow bell peppers
• ripe juicy tomatoes
• fresh torn basil leaves
• stale but hearty bread (I used a rye sourdough from our favourite local bakery)
• a tangy vinaigrette dressing

Gwyneth uses a red wine vinegar/anchovy dressing. Not being a big fan of the salty fishes, I used a version of a basil dressing from the Rebar Cookbook that they recommend for their own bread salad. I also added my new favourite easy ingredient beluga lentils. I’ve been cooking up a small batch (like 1/3 -1/2 cup dry) lately and keeping them in the fridge to add to everything from salads to omelettes to pasta. As an added bonus my little girl loves to just pick at them for a snack.

In the end, here’s my version of Gwyneth’s Panzanella, as she says, a great way to use up stale bread and so delicious in the summer when tomatoes and herbs are at their yummiest.

Domicile Panzanella Salad

• 1 pint of fresh and juicy cherry tomatoes cut in half or 3-4 nice firm medium sized tomatoes cut in chunks
• 2 roasted red peppers, skinned and cut into chunks about the same size as the tomatoes
• 1/2 loaf of stale crusty bread cut into cubes/torn into cubes
• 1/3 cup of dried beluga lentils, cooked in approx 1 cup of water
• 2 medium sized balls of fresh mozarella/bocconcini cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup of pitted kalamata olives roughly chopped (optional)
• 1 bunch of fresh basil torn
• your favourite vinaigrette (or the basil dressing listed below)

Cook the lentils ahead of time so they have time to cool. To add extra flavour, I sometimes cook mine with a small clove of peeled garlic tossed in. Just rinse the lentils, pick out any stones, then cook in approximately 3-4 times the volume of water to lentils. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20-25 minutes testing to see if they’re done. Remember if you cook lentils with salt they won’t soften and the age of the lentils will impact how long they take to cook.

Toss all the above ingredients in a large bowl just before serving (or else the bread will get soggy). Add a good crack or three of fresh pepper and a pinch of sea salt.

Rebar Bail Vinaigrette (kind of)
Note, if you use this recipe you don’t need to add fresh basil to the salad and instead can replace with some fresh greens to add colour.

• 1 clove of garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup of  wine vinegar (I use white or red depending on what I have)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon or grainy mustard
• 1 tsp honey, agave or maple syrup
• 1 large bunch of basil washed
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• salt & pepper

Add all but the oil/salt/pepper to a blender and blend until smooth. Slowly add your oil in a steady stream while the blender runs to make a thick/uniform dressing. Taste and adjust acid/oil to your liking. Add a pinch of salt and crack or two of pepper.

While visiting my beloved friend Inga this weekend, she introduced me to a crazy awesome/delicious salad green mix that I’m itching to share with the world.

I’ll be honest, as we wandered through the produce section of her food co-op I thought it that our evening salad was going to be one of those “it’s good for you” not “it’s so darned tasty” affairs, but boy howdy was I wrong. I should have had more faith as every time Inga and I have the occasion to cook together, extreme yumminess always prevails. Anyway, if, like me, you’re suspicious of this mix: get over it quick. Instead, embrace this mix as your new friend in delicious healthy eating and get chopping.

Inga’s Salad Greens of Maximum Health & Deliciousness
Makes enough for one week or so of salads and will keep that long in the fridge.

• one bunch Kale (variety of your choice, I personally love Lacinto)
• one bunch of Swiss Chard
• one bunch of cilantro*
• one bunch of parsley
• one lemon
• pinch o’sea salt

Thoroughly wash and dry all greens. This can take a while. The good news is that this salad mix will keep in your fridge for a week, so you don’t have to do this every time you want salad. My suggestion is to just fill the sink with cold water and dunk the greens entirely. Then dry.

De-stem your kale, taking off all the hard woody stem parts, however high up the kale this needs to be. Ditto for your chard. Pick through your cilantro and parsley and take off some of the larger stems, but don’t worry too much about de-stemming as the stems are tasty too.

Now start chopping. Chop your kale quite finely on a large cutting board. You want to err on the side of chopping the kale quite fine as it will be easier to digest that way. Transfer to a large bowl or container with lid. Now do the same for the chard, though you can be a bit rougher with your chop here. And now the same for the herbs, including the stems. Add them all to the bowl.

Juice one half to a full lemon (after you’ve done this once or twice you may alter your preference based on how lemon-y you like things). Toss lemon juice with greens. Add a pinch of sea salt and toss. Now cover and you can keep it in the fridge for a week or so. (Due to the acid in the lemon, best to not store in a plastic container).

When making salad, simply take out what you want to use and add the rest of your ingredients, including more dressing if you wish (we added chopped tomatoes to ours and a balsamic/sesame dressing, but I’d use them just like regular lettuce in pretty much any salad recipe). You can also use these greens to add to stir fries, soups, omelettes or what have you while you’re cooking over the week. As I said, it does take a bit of time, say 20 min from start to finish, to get this prepped but then that’s your main salad work done for the week and with those tasty greens in the fridge you’re sure to eat more of them.

*If you’re one of those people who hates cilantro with a fiery passion, feel free to leave it out, don’t pass up the whole recipe for one hang up.

Miss L is well into her finger food/feeding herself phase and pancakes/patties have been one of our most reliable and easy food staples. For breakfast I tend to switch between buckwheat pancakes and these very simple oat flour pancakes, which can be tossed together and served in about 10 minutes from start to finish even on days when she’s off to daycare and I’m off to work.

I make enough to have pancakes for 2-3 days in the fridge, which I then reheat in the toaster. The recipe which follows is actually a half recipe from what I used to make, but I found if I made too many they got kind of gummy after 3+ days. They don’t contain any sugar (but are sweet from the fruit and cinnamon), flour (or gluten), eggs (so good for younger than 1 year) and can easily be made without dairy. We don’t have Miss L on a wheat or dairy free diet, but I try to limit both as allergies run  in our family and exposing her to different grains/food sources is generally a good idea.

The big trick to these is to keep oat flour on hand. In this case, the oat flour I use is just instant oatmeal pre-ground in a food processor, which I then keep in a jar in the fridge. With that on hand, this is very easy to whip up.

Oatmeal & Fruit Pancakes, Apple version

1/2 cup oat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or less, to taste)
1/4 tsp cardamom (or less, to taste)
1 tbsp ground flax (optional, but if like me you add flax to everything, add it here)
1/2 cup milk (cow, goat, oat, soy, rice, etc)
1/2 tbsp oil/melted butter (I use organic canola)

1/2 small apple cut into fine dice (I leave peel on)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the wet in a small bowl or measuring cup. Add wet to dry along with the apples. Mix well to incorporate all ingredients and let sit for 3-5 minutes while the oats absorb some of the liquid.

While the mixture sits, heat a large pan and add a drop of oil or small amount of butter to the pan. When the pancake batter has thickened, add roughly a 1/4 cup of the batter to the pan to make “silver dollar” pancakes. Allow to cook until the edges become dry and a bit bubbly and the centre is drying out as well. Flip, cook for another 2 minutes.

Allow to cool and then cut into small pieces or pancake “soldiers” or “lady fingers” as we do at our house and give to your wee one. The recipe makes 4-5 small pancakes. Miss L will usually eat one along with some goat yogurt and apple sauce, when going through a growth spurt she’ll eat two.

Oatmeal & Fruit Pancakes, Banana version

1/2 cup oat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or less, to taste)
1/4 tsp cardamom (or less, to taste)
1 tbsp ground flax (optional, but if like me you add flax to everything, add it here)
1/2 cup milk (cow, goat, oat, soy, rice, etc)
1/2 small ripe banana

Mix the dry ingredients as above in one bowl. Mash the banana really well in a small bowl, then add about half of the milk to the banana and mash it a bit more. Mix the mush with all of the milk and then add to the dry ingredients. Oil/butter don’t seem to be necessary to add to this mixture, but you can add a bit if you’d like.

Follow remaining instructions as above.

We’re a little bit protein challenged in our house. I’m a vegetarian. Martin is allergic to soy and peanuts. And due to some early sensitivity testing with Miss L, I too am avoiding both soy and peanuts while breastfeeding. At the same time, I’m having trouble getting enough calories (with the exception of cookies) while breastfeeding. So. I’m constantly on the hunt for good protein rich recipes to fill our bellies.

This one is a hybrid of an old pot pie recipe I used to make, with modifications along the way including the addition of quinoa as a base instead of using a full pie shell. It’s pretty tasty, very cozy and not too challenging to make. Like most things I make these days, I always made extra and freeze it.

Veggie & Quinoa Pot Pie

Preheat the oven to 400F and you will need either one large (like deep pie plate sized) or two smaller (6-8″) casserole dishes.

Quinoa
1 cup + 2 cups water

Pastry
1 1/2 cups flour (I use 1 cup regular and 1 cup whole wheat)
1/2 cup butter
pinch of salt
3-4 Tbsp ice water

Pie Filling
2-3 bell peppers (I never use green, but that’s my preference)
2 medium sized potatoes
1 medium sized zucchini
3-4 carrots
1 small head of broccoli chopped small including some stem
about a cup of corn
2 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp fresh thyme (about 6 branches from my somewhat spindly plant)
3 tbsp flour
2 cups milk (or non-dairy milk if you prefer)
salt & plenty of pepper

To begin I start the quinoa going. Cook according to package directions or your preference. If you’ve never cooked it before it’s a lot like cooking rice. You must rinse it will as otherwise it is bitter. Then put it in a pot with the 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn down the heat and let simmer for 20 min or so until all the water is gone.

While that’s cooking I make the pastry. I always do mine in a food processor these days. So I cut my chilled butter into squares. Add it with a pinch of salt and the flour to the processor and pulse until the butter is in small pea sized chunks distributed in the flour. Then let the processor go while you add your 3-4 Tbsp of ice water until the dough just starts to turn into one big clump. Then remove, form into a flatish round and wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

While that’s chilling you can wash, peel and chop your veggies. Now I’ve suggested veggies that were in my produce store at this time of year and in decent shape. You could very easily mix this up to suit your preference and the season. Using mostly root veggies like carrot, parsnips and turnips, with potato would be great, in that case you may want to add a bit of sage to the flavouring. I prefer my veggies all diced fairly small, but if you want things chunkier go for it, you just may need to cook things a bit longer.

Heat some oil or butter in a medium sized pot (big enough to hold all the veggies with spare room) and add your slower cooking veggies to the pot (in this case carrots and potatoes) to the pot with the garlic at a medium heat. Saute for 5 minutes stirring frequently to prevent browning. Then add the other veggies and continue to saute for another 4-5 minutes. At this point things should be softening but not mushy. Now add your thyme (or other herbs). Sprinkle in 3 Tbsp of flour and stir to incorporate it amongst all the veggies in there. Then add the 2 cups of milk about a half cup at a time, stirring all the while to prevent lumps. Now, this is a culinary no no, but I don’t bother to heat the milk and things still work out fine in the thickening department with no lumps. I used to heat the milk, but when you’re on a tight baby distraction schedule it seems like extra work/time/dishes. If you want to be more particular than me, heat your milk first so it is warm. Let the veggies, which are now in a thickening white sauce cook at a low/medium heat for another 10 minutes or so until the potatoes/carrots are more or less cooked. (If you cut your veggies bigger you’ll need to do this for longer). You’ll need to check in and stir here to make sure that things don’t stick/burn. Things should be a bit soupy so that you have extra sauce which will sink into the quinoa base when you assemble thing.

Now take your pastry out of the fridge and roll it out. If making two smaller casseroles, I divide the pastry into two and roll out two smaller rounds.

Assemble your pot pies by lightly buttering your casserole dish(es), put the quinoa in as a base (divide in two if  using two dishes), then add your veggies with the white sauce (again in half if doing two), then put your pastry on top. If you wish you can brush the pastry with milk/egg, that’s mostly a cosmetic touch and with the baby timer ticking down, I also typically don’t bother with that step. Slice a few vents in the pastry top and pop in the oven. If, like me, you just made two casseroles, slide one in a large freezer bag unbaked and freeze now. To cook it later, let the casserole dish itself come to room temperature but don’t defrost it all the way of the pastry will get pasty (the dish however may crack or shatter if it goes into the oven too cold). You’ll need to cook the frozen one for longer, probably 45 minutes. The fresh one you’re making now can cook for 20-25 minutes in a 400F oven.

Tip: Put a cookie sheet under your casserole in the oven or on the rack below as this sometimes bubbles over and makes a mess of your oven.

Serve with a big green salad. Nummy.

So it's been an awfully long time since I've been posting regular updates here and that's been a for a whole host of rather dull reasons — busy at work, busy at home, a bunch of work travel over the Fall that had me feeling like I barely touched down on domestic life, etc. — in addition to the dull and rather everyday reasons, I also went through some fairly profound introspection that had me questioning just how much time I wanted to be spending online. This self-analysis came out of some fairly low periods over the past few months, as well as some really high points. The high points all came in the form of face to face interaction with incredible people (some old friends and some new) and I somewhat subconsciously decided to take a bit of a break from spending too much time with the computer (or as much of a break a the partner in a website design studio can take). But, the combination of the rain and the shorter days, my own adventures in researching holiday projects and recipes, and some interesting online personal projects that have come my way recently have me thinking about this site again. So, I thought I'd share one of the things I've been up to in all this offline time: gnocchi nights.

Our house, as much as I love it, isn't really that well suited to mass entertaining. We don't have a diningroom (or a particularly large kitchen table) but about two months ago I decided I couldn't let that hold me back, as I wanted to start entertaining friends in our home. I had also been itching to try making homemade gnocchi, never having been able to quite shake the bliss of the first homemade gnocchi I tried in a small town outside of Rome over a decade ago. And so, gnocchi night was born. And has since been repeated with great success.

Amongst my cookbooks I have several recipes for gnocchi, including ones hailing from specifically vegan cookbooks and others from Italian tomes. On the inaugural gnocchi night I had actually planed to make Heidi's recipe from 101 Cookbooks, but the internet went down at our place at a rather untimely moment. In the end I used a very simple (and hugely successful) recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which is really a must-have cookbook for any vegetarian or veggie food loving cook out there as it is a truly comprehensive (minus the meat) guide to cooking and eating well. I've made the recipe a few times now and it's been reliably delicious and fabulously easy.

Potato Gnocchi Recipe


From Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone mildly adapted by me

2 large russet potatoes (about 2 pounds, I've been using local organic spuds and I've needed significantly more than 2 as they've been fairly wee, so have gone by weight)

1 1/4 cups of flour (more if needed)

Pinch of sea salt

To start with you bake the potatoes in a 400F oven until tender. Then cut them open and scoop out the potato from the skins after they've cooled enough to handle but are still warm.
Pass the potatoes through a food mill or just mash'em with a potato masher (many recipes I've read said this last technique won't work, but mine have been more than fine, just mash'em well). They should be light and fluffy. Let them cool to room temperature and then add a pinch of salt and sprinkle with the flour.

Using your hands, gently work the potato/flour mix until you have a smooth, soft dough. If it's too sticky add more flour. Don't knead or overwork it. Take a 1/4 of the dough and roll it out into a large rope about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the rope into diagonal pieces about 1/4 inch long. Set these in a single layer on a baking sheet lightly dusted with flour. Repeat with the remaining dough, then cover with a towel and refrigerate for a few hours.

To cook them, add salt to a large pot of boiling water and then add about a quarter of the gnocchi. As they rise to the top, count to ten and then remove with a strainer. (I put the removed gnocchi in a pan in an oven on low heat to stay warm while I cooked the rest. Ta da.

I worried that they would fall apart in the water, or all stick together but they haven't either time.
You can serve the gnocchi with the sauce of your choice. The Artful Vegan has a particularly tasty looking beet sauce I have yet to try that is paired with gnocchi. I have to admit, however, that I'm a sucker for a simple butter and sage sauce, particularly at this time of year. Some roasted pumpkin is also quite nice tossed with that.

We had a gnocchi night for my birthday and I made gnocchi while everyone else brought sides, salads (and of course cupcakes!). It was a great way to have a dinner party and really there's nothing quite like a belly full of tasty, light, fluffy potato dumplings in butter on a rainy winter's night.

(If any of you out there know if you can easily replace the wheat flour with a gluten free option I'd love to hear it).

About a year or so ago now an ex emailed me to ask if I still had the recipe for a ricotta/chard pasta sauce we used to make. When I got her email I realized that it was one of those receipes that had completely fallen out of my kitchen repertoire, though I'm not certain why as I absolutely adore it. It was on of those recipes that is so much more than the sum of its parts, the ingredients all coming together in a creamy and decadent coating just perfect for al dente penne rigate or a nice thin fresh papardelle. I'm not usually a fan of creamy sauces, but this one manages to balance decadent with a light fresh taste and to not be too heavy in the belly.

I scoured my cookbooks to no avail, and even asked Lauren (whose cookbook collection I have often familiarized myself with) if she had it. Nothing turned up. After a particularly long day of weeding and trying to get on top of the back garden and veggie squares yesterday, I found myself with a whole heck of a lot of fresh swiss chard in need of harvesting and eating, and my determination to resurrect that recipe was renewed. I tried a search of the web, but mostly came up with ricotta filled pastas, until I happened upon Whipped and there it was (with some slight variations). And so I set to work washing chard, and made a double batch (we still have plenty of fresh and lovely chard in the yard if anyone in the neighbourhood is interested). I brought some of the very large batch over to our new neighbours  with a box of penne, some mineral water and a bottle of organic french wine. They just moved in this weekend, and we're so excited that someone has moved onto the block who doesn't plan to knock the house down and build a monster  house instead. (We're also excited because they seem like really awesome folks and they have what is certainly the coolest and biggest deck on the block and they seem keen to have company for deck parties).

So, after all those tangents here's the recipe for chard, ricotta and hazelnut pasta sauce. (This sauce makes great substitute for basil pesto in the winter months when basil is scarce and pricey, but it's also a perfect way to use up a bunch of spring chard).

Serves 4
1 bunch Swiss chard, stalks removed (about 4 cups chopped)
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I use fresh grated nutmeg, so use a bit less)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts (plus a bit more for finely chopped for on top)

Your favourite pasta shape, I like penne rigate as it clings to the ridges and gets stuck in the tubes. Yum.

Bring water to a boil. While water is getting hot, wash and
rinse the swiss chard. Chop in shreds. Saute the garlic in the olive
oil for a minute. Add the damp greens and stir until just wilted but
still bright green. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. In a blender or food
processor, puree with cooked greens with the ricotta until smooth. Add
a few extra teaspoons of olive oil if needed to smooth out the sauce.
Add more salt if needed to bring out the flavors of the greens.

Cook pasta according to directions for al dente (you don't want it too mushy with a creamy sauce). Toss drained pasta with the sauce. Serve with chopped roasted hazelnuts and plenty of fresh cracked pepper.

A few years ago, while visiting my dear friend Kate in Montreal, I stayed in a little B&B that specialized in vegetarian/vegan cuisine. The proprietor was a lovely man and an excellent chef. I was one of the only guests at the time and so I’d often have breakfast with the proprietor and talk gourmet vegetarian cooking and eating over my very tasty breakfasts. One morning my breakfast included a small bowl of kiwi "mouse" which, Philippe explained, was simple chopped kiwis blended with a little bit of sweetener (I believe he used maple syrup) and ice. The result is a very delicately textured whipped kiwi well mousse of sorts that is delightfully refreshing and tasty, and makes a great accompaniment to breakfast (or would in fact be a lovely and simple, light dessert).

When we had our nasty virus last week friends dropped off some kiwis on request, and another friend brought over a box of organic strawberries. When we finally reached the point of being able to stomach food, we were still a little hesitant about solids, so I decided to try whipping up a variation on Philippe’s mousse. The result was pretty decent and I imagine would be a great way to get kids to eat more fruit, as well as an excellent accompaniment to a bowl of oatmeal (for us), or would as I say make a nice light summer dessert. And really, the "recipe" (if you can call it that) is just so darn simple.

Strawberry/Kiwi Mousse in the style of Chez Philippe
Serves 2

Peel and roughly chop 3 kiwis
Remove the stems from approx 6-8 largish strawberries, chop in half

Add to a blender with 2 ice cubes and a generous squeeze of agave syrup (I’d say maybe a scant tbsp). Blend.

That’s it. The ice is really just to cool everything down and add a bit of liquid, you don’t want to add so much that there’s actually ice in the mousse (you’re not making a margarita). You could drink this, though it’s just a bit thick for that and it’s positively wonderful to eat from little bowls with a little spoon. If you don’t have agave, maple syrup will do, or if it’s the height of summer and your berries are very sweet you can probably do without sweetener at all.

Ok, so not peanut sauce. But close. For those who don’t know Martin and I suffer from a bit of an ironic food pairing. I am an avowed vegetarian (though not a vegan) and, in turn, has a deathly allergy when it comes to peanuts and soy protein (though fortunately not things like tamari/soy sauce which have no protein in them). This means my deep fondness for tofu-y goodness is often only fulfilled at dinners out or when he is not around for dinner (on those nights I will often lovingly cradle a bowl of baked tofu and brown rice in my hands and indulge like a kid in a chocolate factory). I ate a lot of tofu before we moved in together, and much less of it now, though I certainly manage to get my fix when necessary. Peanuts I had quite fortunately abandoned a few years prior in favour of almonds and other nuts. Once you’ve tried almond butter you’re not likely to go back to its lower rent cousin peanut butter, though it does inflate the grocery bill a bit. The one place where I would still indulge in the humble peanut was peanut sauce. I love peanut sauce. In particular a version from the Rebar cookbook that includes cilantro, lime and a bit of sambal oelek for heat. But, given the severity of Martin’s peanut allergy, which is more severe than his soy protein allergy and peanuts are more insidious when it comes to cross contamination in the kitchen, we have not had hide nor hair of a peanut in this house since we moved in.

But oh how I have missed the peanut sauciness.

Last night I was making dinner for our current house guests — my darling god-daughter Djuna, her mom (my dear childhood friend), dad and her new baby brother — as well as a friend who was joining us and I wanted a sauce to tie together some steamed veggies, brown rice and (depending on which side of the veggie vs. protein allergy spectrum you fall on) coconut prawns/baked tofu. Peanut sauce would have done the job very nicely and I’ve been meaning to spend some time trying out some alternative nuts to make a similar sauce, so last night I gave it a whirl with cashews and, my peanut eschewing friends: we have a winner.

Here’s the recipe (again, I don’t use much in the way of exact measurements for these things, so pardon the loose directions).

Emira’s Recipe for Cashew (NOT Peanut) Sauce:

- 1 cup of toasted unsalted cashews (I toasted these in a 250 oven for 20 min)
- nearly a whole can of coconut milk
- one 1" piece of ginger peeled and grated
- one large clove of garlic chopped
- about 2 or 3 tbps tamari
- generous handful of cilantro chopped
- juice of one lime
- chili peppers/sambal oelek to taste

Start by toasting your cashews if they aren’t already. Then place them in a food processor/cuisinart until they start to turn to cashew butter. This took maybe 4 or 5 minutes? I kept commenting to Kate that they weren’t turning to butter then PRESTO they did. So have patience.

Open your can of coconut milk and add about half to the food processor. You can keep adding it afterwards depending on the taste and how coconuty you want it in the end. Add the tamari (start with about 2 tbsp and taste for saltiness to suit your preferences), ginger, garlic and the lime juice. Blend it for a few second until mixed. Wash and chop your cilantro (or leave this out if you’re one of those cilantro haters) and add it to the food processor with some sambal oelek for heat. To be honest, I left this out last night as Martin’s peanut allergy presents itself as a tingling heat on his tongue, so I didn’t want him to freak out. Next time, I’ll add about 1 tsp now that he knows this sauce doesn’t kill him. Turn it on to mix again and then taste. Adjust by adding more coconut and or tamari as you like. Of course you can also add more of the ginger, garlic, spice or cilantro too.

Transfer to a small pot and gently heat. You’re not really cooking this, just warming it to go on your food. I suppose you could microwave it, but we don’t have one of those.

And ta da. Perfect with baked tofu, coconut prawns (apparently), brown rice and steamed veggie goodness like broccolis, snow peas, etc. etc.