Broccoli and Toasted Lentils

I am always struck by the self-discipline it takes for people to develop or even join a movement of weekly posts and actually stick to it. I am so frazzled with our lives to the point that I always think, why the hell am I stressed out and then I start listing the reasons in my head just so that I will feel justified in having a cup of tea and watching copious amounts of crime drama instead of cleaning the kitchen. Imagine my delight when last night I discovered this tweet by Emily about a new post at her blog well fed, flat broke and I thought: I like broccoli. I like tofu. Holy crap, I also like peanuts! And tonight's dinner was nurtured in my head at 2:00 in the morning.

Turns out, we didn't have tofu or peanuts, or any of the spices Emily used; instead, I just opted to run with whatever we had in the fridge and pantry and this dish was born. This is inspiration, you see an image, a smell comes to you as you walk through your neighbourhood or you realize your favourite vegetable is in season a few weeks earlier than expected. Last week we received a full head of broccoli in our CSA from the Hutten Farm and it was a lush, deep green that begged for a great dish for it to flourish. The toasted almonds combined with the toasted lentils add warmth to the dish, completely contrasted by the subtle lemon from the cooking process. Served on a bed of brown rice, this is a full meal in only two dishes and within 30 minutes. I am guessing at the time because I was making stout brownies at the same time and for about 15 minutes everything got a little jumbled before the brownies made their way into the oven.

It may seem like there are a lot of steps associated with the broccoli and toasted lentils but it's mostly because you will be adding different things in stages to preserve their texture and flavour. There is nothing worse than overcooked vegetables and a sure way to achieve mush is to add everything at once.

The Rice

brown rice

water

pinch of salt

Note: Don't freak out. There is a reason for my lack of measurements.

1. Layer rice in the bottom of your pot - remember, brown rice seriously fluffs up. I generally cover the bottom with an inch of rice.

2. Add water, cover the rice, shake the pot to settle the rice and add another inch of water above the rice.

3. Cover and bring to a boil then turn it down to low. Cook until the water disappears and there are holes down through the bed of rice. It should take about 35-40 minutes.

Broccoli and Lentils

handful of slivered almonds

one onion, diced

one apple, chopped

1/4 cup blue lentils - these hold their shape

the florets of one head of broccoli

cupped handful of chopped yellow beans

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

red curry paste*

S&P to taste

1. In a heated pan, gently toast your almonds. This should take about 3-5 minutes and the almonds should turn to a golden brown, almost the same colour as light brown sugar. Set aside.

2. Toast your lentils and if you are like me, forget about them for a solid 7-8 minutes then hurriedly toss in 3 tbsp of lemon juice and enough water to lightly cover them. They should not be submerged. Cook for 15 minutes. Reserve.

3. Heat olive oil. Add the diced onion and cook on medium-low until the onion is translucent. Add the apples and about 3 teaspoons of lemon juice to break down the apples. Cover.

4. Add the broccoli and yellow beans. Lightly saute until the colour in both vegetables becomes vibrant. Add the lentils.

5. At this point, add the red curry. Use your judgment. I used the opposite end of my wooden spoon to take out just a hint and then mixed it in, I did this about 5 times. Children were eating the dish so it couldn't be spicy but know that red curry offers more warmth than a punch you in the mouth heat.

6. Add those beautifully toasted almonds and season to taste.

Toasted and Creamy Quinoa

If quinoa can be toasted, how is it also creamy? Easy-peasy. Toasting the quinoa prior to cooking it reveals a beautiful and subtle nutty flavour that is sometimes drowned out by the earthy quality some people tend to find undesirable with quinoa. I'm the opposite: I love earthy foods, I find them to have a freshness that feels like you are biting into a piece of the farm (not the farmer!) who grew the produce, just for you. As we all know, quinoa is a complete protein; this means that you don't need to combine it with another food to truly capture all the complex amino acids that are generally found in meat. This makes quinoa perfect for vegetarians and vegans (although, you'd have to swap the quark for a vegan cream cheese).

The Quinoa

1-1.5 cups quinoa

2 stock cubes*

water

salt, pepper to taste

2 tsbp. quark or other creamy cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a pan. You'll need just enough oil to lightly coat the quinoa kernels so they don't scorch.

2. Toast the quinoa. This is the same principle as popping your own popcorn. Toss it a fair amount to avoid burning. Just know that every time you toss it, the quinoa loses a bit of the heat.

3. Once sufficiently toasted (about 5-10 minutes) add water and the stock cubes.** Cook covered and on medium low heat for 20-25 minutes, or until the "tails" are released. Toasting the quinoa first lowers the cooking time in the water. You also need a bit less water.

4. Stir in enough cheese until creamy. I do believe I may have started with 2 tablespoons then added more later, so the 2 tablespoons is a good base. Add more at your discretion. Salt and pepper to taste.

*I use stock that I make myself from leftover bones and veggies. You can see how to do it here. I freeze some of the stock in ice cube trays for those times when I need a punch of flavour but don't want a whole bunch of stock. Beware packaged soup stock, often it has wheat in it.

**A few years ago one of Mr.'s cousins stayed with us for a bit. It was quite an experience and while I learned many things, my favourite was how to make rice (or another grain) without measuring. Pour your rice/quinoa into the pot and add enough water so that it is about 2 centimetres above the top, bring to a boil and reduce to medium low like usual. Works every time.

This makes an excellent side to any meal as it is light and fragrant and it covers a lot of nutritional needs. Enjoy!

An Improvised Lunch: Sweet Pea Hummus

Today's lunch, like most days, is a simple affair. We have an eclectic mix of ingredients which meant a fair amount if improvising. Hummus (or something akin to hummus) is perfect for the mix kicking our in the fridge so we ended up with a sweet pea hummus that was flavourful, a little unexpected and a perfect dip for roasted garlic spaghetti squash fritters. Extra carrot sticks and broccoli florets rounded out a lunch my little people will always eat. When in doubt, give kids dip worthy foods. They'll love you for it.

Sweet Pea Hummus

one can of chickpeas

1/4 cup peas

garlic

one tablespoon dijon mustard

2 tsp. liquid honey

one tablespoon white miso paste (it could be less, honestly I just eyeball my ingredients!)

salt

white pepper

olive oil

apple cider vinegar

soy milk

1. Mix all ingredients together. As always, the spices are listed as to your taste. After you add the liquids (pretty well in equal parts to be able to blend/bind) throw in a dash of sugar to cut the acidity of the apple cider vinegar. Blend until smooth.

I like to make my hummus before cutting up the veggies so that the flavours of the hummus can bloom and mix.

I have to tweak the fritter recipe a little but as soon as it is up to par, I'm sure it will make an appearance!

Curry Mint Lentil Soup

Curry Mint Lentil Soup

I always cook dried lentils for this soup because, well canned lentils are unappetizing. Plus, it is significantly more economical to buy a bag of dried lentils instead of the usual can of slimy, salty lentils.

It really depends on you how spicy this soup will be, my four year old who will randomly change her mind about her favourite foods really loves this soup and it is totally adaptable. Play with it.

1 cup of lentils

1 cup of stock

500 mL of coconut milk

1 tsp. dried mint

1 tsp curry paste

onion, sliced thinly

tbsp butter

fresh mint

tbsp creamed coconut

1. Heat a pot on medium heat (you could just as easily use a pan but since this recipe calls for using two pots already, why bother with the extra dishes?) and toss in the butter when sufficiently hot. Add the onions and caramelize. This will take about 3-5 minutes unless you want to do it properly and turn the heat down really low to allow the sugar in the onion to really come out and cook. If you are in a hurry, or just feeling lazy feel free do a quick and dirty job of getting the onions browned.

2. To liven up the onions splash some balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with sugar. Reserve the onions.

3. Boil your lentils in the stock until soft. The stock will no doubt boil down, this is okay because the cocunut milk is filling the role of liquid. But, you already knew that. Use the pot that was used for the onions so that you don't inadvertently mar the colour of the coconut milk.

4. Simmer the coconut milk with the curry paste. You do it this way so you don't have little devils of curry paste scattered in the finished soup, the paste will completely break apart as you simmer. The longer you let it simmer the more the curry will come forward and just bloom into a really rich flavour ... that also means it will get hotter. This step is somewhere in between the onion an boiling of lentils stage. Since the heat level is up to you, use your judgment. I'm helpful like that, just do it whenever you want.

Oh! You should definitely add a few sesame leaves to your coconut milk. They add this beautiful smokey citrus flavour. I bought mine at Pete's Frootique and they were mis-labeled as curry leaves. So, if from Halifax and at Pete's, apparently you will be looking for curry leaves. Unless of course, Mr. W.P. was mistaken when he was squinting at the google images page.

5. Combine it all. Stick an immersion blender in it for a couple of seconds the mix up the texture. Soup! *

6. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

*Reserve some of your caramelized onions for presentation, you can also add a little sprig of mint.

The orange bits in my soup in the picture above (they might be hidden by the general yellow hue of the picture) are carrots! I added some chopped carrot to the lentils when they were almost done boiling. This way, the carrots retain their crunch, colour and nutritional value. Hm. The alliteration kind of stumbled on that one.. :)

You can add anything you want to this soup, any vegetables. Just don't boil the hell out of your vegetables, I beg of you. We can't be friends if you over cook your veggies. Seriously. Add them when there is about 3 minutes left of boil time for the lentils.

Alternatively, you could add tomatoes and even straw mushrooms to the cocunut milk so they are immersed in those flavours. Add the tomatoes early if you want them broken down and really soft. This is not an exception to the overcooked vegetable mandate as tomatoes are fruit. Kind of. It depends on who is asking.

Gluten-free Mint and Chevre Raiffe!

I adapted this recipe from Sarah Brown's utterly stunning World Vegetarian Cookbook.

Disclaimer: If you are from Morocco and expecting an actual gluten-free Raiffe out of this, I'm sorry. It is an absolutely stunning and delicious dish but it is more of a reject-latke biscuity thing of wonder and yumminess.

Raiffe Dough

2/3 cup cornflour

1/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup potato flour

1/3 cup quinoa flour*

pinch of guar gum

1/4 tsp coarse sea salt

2 oz. butter (I always use goat butter.)

100 ml warm water

1 tbsp olive oil

Minty Cheese

5 oz. chevre

1 tsp. dried mint**

pinch of kosher salt

*if you don't want a gluten free version use 300 grams of wheat flour. I'm sure you will have a pastry of beauty. Gluten free baked goods are great, in their own way. Gluten free food is kind of like that weird girl from you grew up with. She's weirdly pretty and will introduce you to your favourite folk band but maybe she wears too many cardigans. I just really miss wheat pastry. Sob.

**I just thought of this: if you wanted just a smidge of sweetness, add a bit of liquid honey. Not too much, you don't want it to leak out and scorch.

1. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it becomes a soft crumb mix.

2. Mix in the olive oil. Use a fork and it just generally adds to the crumb-like consistency.

3. Incorporate the warm water.

If this was a regular wheat flour dough you would simply knead until it forms an elastic ball.As it is gluten-free you will try to do this (if you are me) and come to doubt all of your home-culinary skills until you realize you are using exactly one million flours and not one has any gluten in it. Did you know that gluten forms strands in the dough and that is what makes wheat pastry flaky?

Try your best not to freak out and mix it until it is together.

Form the dough into about 8 balls and allow to rest.

4. Flatten the dough. This is not specific. Just load it up with the cheese mix and fold it back together until the cheese is entirely covered. Wing it if you have to.

5. Fry in heated oil until a crisp golden brown.

They will kind of look like over-sized reject latkes. Don't be fooled.

Serve it with the sage and garlic aioli and you are set!

Sage and and Garlic Aioli Recipe

Sage & Garlic Aioli

Adapted from David Lebovitz. Way, way back - you know, in the first post- I wrote about an aioli I made that would have been better if I simply had fresh sage. Well, I have fresh sage now. Excellent.

olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic

very coarse sea salt

3-4 sage leaves (to taste!)

1 egg yolk (extraordinarily fresh!)

1. Crush the garlic with sea salt until creamy.

2. Add sage and a pinch of sea salt and really mash it up until the sage is broken apart. Really mash the hell out of it.

3. Add egg yolk. (This will end up satisfying two, if you would like more add another egg yolk.)

4. Whisk! Whisk! Whisk!

5. Add just a drizzle of oil.

6. Whisk! Whisk! Whisk.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 until desired consistency.

The aioli will continue to thicken as you add more oil. If you had warm, fresh (like, fresh from the chicken fresh) eggs it would be great to make this minutes before you eat it. Ooohhhh- kay. Yum. I'll go wallow for a bit.