home cooking – Page 2 – Make me eat my words.

A New York fail forces my hand

December 4, 2016November 26, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

I took my son to New York a couple years ago.

Aside from the lure of the stage I was looking forward to the food. As I’ve said before, I cook meat light (meat is usually 1/3 – 1/4 of our meal). That and the huge portion sizes are a challenge for me when I visit the US.

Our first dinner was at a ‘French’ cafe around the corner from our hotel. We were in a rush because we were off to the theatre, so close seemed like a good idea. My son ordered cassoulet. Sadly, it was about a dozen beans and two pounds of fatty meat.

When we got home I decided to prove to him that this was a dish worth trying again.

Cassoulet is time intensive, but an easy enough dish to make in terms of skill.

Soak 1 cup of white beans the day before. I let them simmer on low for a few hours, cool them and then leave them in water over night in the fridge.

I use one of my favourite enameled cast iron dishes, but any pan that goes from stove top to oven works.

Saute diced onion, carrot and celery (about a half cup of each) in butter, adding a good tsp of minced garlic when that is almost done.

To that pan I add a bottle of Mutti strained tomatoes, 1/2 tsp sweet paprika, 1/2 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp smoked paprika, a couple bay leaves, some salt and pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. I mix all that with about 1/4 cup of stock – I use chicken stock but vegetable would work of you wanted to make an all bean vegetarian version.

Then add the beans with some of the water they soaked in, and mix to coat all the beans. If you don’t add enough water don’t worry, you can add more water as you check the progress of the beans as the cassoulet cooks.

When that is mixed I arrange some meats on top. How much meat depends on who is eating, but I figure the pot should be at least half beans or the meal isn’t balanced.

I’ve used locally sourced smoked poultry, bacon, ham hocks, smoked ribs, and the moose sausage or deer smokies my husband brings home after hunting season. I’ve also thrown in ends of cured meats from the fridge. Use what you have on hand to feed the people in the house. It’s a peasant meal after all.

I pop the covered pot in the oven at 300F for a few hours. My pot takes about four hours but that will vary based on pot size and how well soaked the beans were to start. I give myself plenty of time and we eat when the beans are tender. Near the end I uncover the dish, sprinkle some bread crumbs over the top and turn on the broiler.

This recipe isn’t set in stone. Adjust to suit your family’s tastes.

Like a lot of the non chicken-finger-and-fries homemade meals I cook, this meal is not a huge hit with my step sons. But they eat politely. They need to be challenged to expand their palates not only because the more you eat the easier it is to travel and socialize, but eating more home cooked foods and less processed fast foods is healthier.

That’s my greatest cooking challenge.

Family pub night

November 20, 2016September 19, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

I grew up eating family dinners together, and always ate with my son. It helps families feel connected and keeps parents involved in their kid’s daily lives. So when my husband and I blended our families I naturally kept mealtime as a time for us to gather.

The difficult part was that there is a huge difference in between how I raised my son to see mealtime and how his boys were raised. I suddenly found myself cooking for boys who weren’t open to new food experiences and who have anxiety about dinnertime expectations. I had to adapt my cooking style to tone down the grains and vegetables and quickly learn to cook more meat inclusive meals, which didn’t make my son happy.

The first few months were pretty rough. I actually cried a couple times. One of the early ways I found to take the stress out of meals was pub night.

Basically, it’s a buffet that we all sit down to while watching a movie or playing a board game.

Early pub night hits were pretty unhealthy and vegetables were pretty absent. I am proud to say though, that I have successfully introduced some healthier options and new flavours.

Potato skins, green onion cakes, hummus and pitas, chicken fingers, spring rolls, poutine, nachos and sliced veggies show up at the start. I’ve since added roasted grapes, lettuce wraps, onion tarts, mini empanadas and calzones, samosas, bolani, spinach or sundried tomatoes pastries, and meatballs. It’s becoming more gastro-pub and less corner store fare. Throw in some pickles, chutneys, olives, flat breads, sliced meats and cheeses, and I’d feel confident feeding the Queen.

As with every meal, the key is to let the boys try things on their own and NEVER force them to eat what they do not want. That out-dated parenting tactic is how they came to be such anxious eaters. This way is slowly taking the edge off and slowly broadening their horizons.

Even if they never embrace all the foods available I hope at least I take the stress out of dinnertime for them.

The hunting season widow

November 6, 2016October 16, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

Every November I lose my husband. While he’s out wandering the woods hunting, I eat alone. Even for an introvert there has to be something to look forward to in extended alone time, and for my hunting season widowhood that something is eating the foods my husband won’t.

A November Hunting Widow’s Menu:

Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Sage Sauce

The first time I had this was nine years ago in a tiny San Francisco restaurant. I came home and immediately worked on duplicating it, which turned out to be fairly easy.

I just melt the cheese into cream and add a couple sage leaves. Easy peasy.

I use Cambozola, which is somewhere between Camembert and Gorgonzola. I am incredibly lucky to live near Edmonton’s Italian Centre Shop. They carry this and every other cheese my heart desires.

Pebre

Pebre is a fresh salsa I learned to make from my son’s father’s Chilean family. There are many family specific versions.

I use corn oil, lemon juice, tabasco, minced onion and cilantro. It tastes better the next day.

I usually make myself some fried fish Chilean style and rice to go with it.

Spaghetti Squash

Another thing the Italian Centre shop always has is nice manageable sized squashes.

I steam the squash and pull the strands away from the rind. I mix that with olive oil, salt, pepper, finely minced or crushed garlic, red pepper flakes and some good quality shredded mozzarella. Bake that until it turns golden brown on top.

Beets

Last of the hunting widow menu items is my roasted beets.

I peel and slice the beets, and toss them in a mix of olive oil, finely diced or crushed garlic, and balsamic vinegar. I bake that until the beets are tender. I like to eat them as a side a dish with perogies.

Curry

As for the curry, that I leave to the professionals.

When winter comes too soon

October 23, 2016September 19, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

It happens every year. Winter comes too soon. I am never really ready to surrender my garden, I retreat under duress. Every year I spend one evening ruefully bringing in all the green tomatoes one step ahead of a forecasted killing frost.

One family can only eat so many delicious fried green tomatoes, and it’s really hard to fry cherry tomatoes. But I hate wasting what I watched grow, so I’ve found a use for those little green garden babies.

I was given a Martha Stewart cookbook that has a really good recipe for tomato relish, and I tweaked it to my tastes.

How I made the relish:

I take all the sad little cherry tomatoes that are not quite ripe and dice them. I add diced garlic, ginger, onions and bell pepper.

To this I add cider vinegar, salt, brown sugar, mustard and some water.
Then I boil it down until the all the ingredients are soft enough to be fully mixed – sometimes this means I add more water as necessary. Easy peasy. And yummy.

I’ve never canned it , there is never enough to bother. I just pop it in the fridge and use it up over the last month of the grilling season.

Keep the relish basics intact – vinegar and salt and sugar – then taste as you go and adjust as it suits your family’s preferences. Word of warning, use only the little tomatoes that had a chance of ripening; using the very small ones tends to make the relish bitter.

Fun food finds

October 9, 2016September 19, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

In mid September on the way home from saying a final good-bye to my grandmother, my husband and I stopped in Bonnyville for a break and a coffee. We didn’t have time to get much off the main street so when we passed an old house with a sign saying ‘cafe & antiques‘ we parked and headed in.

The coffee was fine. Hubby got an americano, I got a hot chocolate. The fun part was what I found wandering through the rooms of collectibles.

This is a 1929 version of the White House Cookbook. It’s obviously well used, but the binding and pages are intact. There are some annotations next to a couple recipes.

With recipes like lettuce sandwich, creamed tuna fish, pickled chicken, prune and peanut butter sandwiches, chicken pudding, spiced beef relish, eggs in jelly, and brain cutlets I think it will spend most of its time on the shelf as a interesting conversation starter. I may try some of the bread recipes and I already follow some of the health suggestions.

This is a fabulous find. How it ended up in an antique store in northern Alberta I don’t know, but I like to think that it came up in a hope chest with a young bride. A young woman maybe like my Granny Ada Young who came up from Pennsylvania to
homestead near Dunstable, Alberta with her new husband John.

Maybe this was an sentimental buy. The grandmother whose funeral I was coming home from was born to Ada and John on that homestead. I’m less prone to sentimentality than I am to an obsession with history, but this may be the exception.

It is going to be a joy to find this a place of honour in my new kitchen. Somewhere near my other food related kitchen decorations, my mother’s kitschy early 70’s cookbooks, and near the little book that holds my Grandmother’s pastry recipe.

What CAN you do with a garden bounty?

September 25, 2016September 19, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

Two years ago I planted four jalapeño pepper plants on a whim. The plants thrived and I got a small bounty of peppers. Obviously when the frost came I had to do something with them, so I pickled my first three jars of jalapeños.

Last year I did two small batches, one in early August and one at frost. Bear in mind that I have never pickled more than four, 500ml jars at a time so I have never heat processed them. They get eaten in under a month so it hasn’t been necessary. This year we had some thieving deer wander up from the ravine and eat the leaves off the plants stunting their growth and killing some. If we get a bigger crop next year I will heat process them, but this year it looks like I’ll get about three jars.

I googled a simple recipe. They turned out nicely so I wrote the recipe in my recipe scribbler. Every year I go back to that recipe and wonder because it has no sugar or salt, but it works.

Quick pickled jalapeño peppers:

I started by blanching the peppers, then slicing them.

The slices go into a pot with equal parts water and white wine vinegar and clove of two of garlic, which I bring to a boil.

I ladle the peppers into jars, and cover them with the remaining liquid.

Then I stick the jars in the fridge. They taste best after a couple days, then they go fast.

These were a particular favourite of my middle son. He likes that they are crispier that store bought. I like them because they are more garlicky. The boys all put them on pizzas/calzones, sandwiches, paninis, and my husband puts them on his meat, cheese and pickle snack plates.

It’s pretty small scale pickling, but it’s very satisfying to see how enthusiastically they get eaten.

The kitchenless cook

September 11, 2016August 31, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

I’m in the midst of a kitchen renovation. My dishes and pantry items are squirreled away in another room, and the fridge is in the garage. It’s a temporary but annoying situation.

Thankfully, it’s late summer and that leaves me with the broadest possible range of possible options for cooking dinner without my stove and oven.

I have a BBQ, two crock pots, and a coleman stove. There’s a fairly good range of meals I can put together with these. I have, however, one more tool in my kitchenless cook arsenal.

I also have a potji. My husband came across these little cast iron wonders on a trip to Namibia. We got ours at a place called Betsy’s South African Deli here in Edmonton. Potjis are similar to dutch ovens but have a rounded bottom. The rounded bottom creates convection cooking action in the pot. You do not stir a potji meal.

I tried it out last week with a vegetable stew recipe I found on the web – slightly altered.

I sweated onion, garlic, mustard powder, oregano and a bay leaf from my garden in white wine vinegar and bit of oil. I removed about 3/4 of that mix, and started adding diced veggies. I added potato and carrot (the recipe asked for parsnip which I love but did not have), then layered some of the onion mixture over it. Then I added squash and celery (celery was not in the recipe but I added it I like how celery fills in flavour gaps), and again topped that with the onion. I then layered ripe tomatoes, also from my garden, topped again with the remainder of the onion. Next was zuchini – this time from a friend’s garden. Here the recipe called for corn on the cob, but I had been too lazy to go to the grocery store so instead I just poured in some frozen corn. On top of that, until the potji was full, I placed fresh spinach – also not from my garden thanks to some thieving deer.

We don’t yet have a fire pit – that’s next year’s home improvement – so I started some briquettes in a tin roaster and placed the potji over the coals on the patio. It cooked 2 hours. I could see steam escaping and I could hear bubbling, but I resisted the urge to lift the lid and stir.

When my husband got home from work and finally lifted the lid we were both pleasantly surprised.

I quickly grilled some flatbread and voila – we had a wonderful meal. A wonderful meatless meal full of flavour. Meatless is the challenge without an oven so this was a perfect fill in for my slightly meat heavy kitchenless meal plan.

I’ll try this dish again, but add more onion and garlic and some little hot red peppers from my garden. I also found a recipe for apricot chicken stew I will try out.

I can tell I am going to get some good use out of the potji every summer.

One cook, five palates

August 27, 2016August 31, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

One of the reasons I started this blog is because I have been really struggling to cook for a blended family for the past four years.

My husband and I brought together our teen aged sons to form what I have to say is a pretty successful family unit. I don’t want to diminish that success, but food has been an ongoing problem.

The first issue has been our differing relationships to food. Everyone has food likes and dislikes. That’s a given. But we all also develop a relationship to food that is dictated by our home environment and how food factors into our upbringing.

I raised my son with the same relationship to food that I was raised with (thanks mom!). He was encouraged to try new foods, but never required to. There was no punishment for not trying, and certainly no punishment for not liking a new food. He was also encouraged to revisit foods he had already tried and disliked. We both have certain foods we simply would never choose first and a few we just avoid, but we’re overall good eaters.

My step sons have a completely different relationship to food. They were brought up old school and dinner was mandated eating. As a result, new foods cause them quite a bit of anxiety and they are very hesitant to try anything new. When they do try new food it’s usually a fake attempt because they’ve already decided they don’t want to like it.

The second consistent issue is meat. I’m not a fan, neither is my son. I started turning away beef as a tween. I now rarely touch pork (but bacon, am I right?). I eat chicken in small portions. My son eats all of those meats, but also prefers small portions in relation to the vegetables and grains offered.

My husband and his boys were raised in meat centric cultures. Pork and beef centric cultures, with some potatoes and veggies haphazardly placed on the side.

The third and last issue is prepared versus fresh foods.
Here again, I cook the way I was raised (thanks again, mom!). I cook from scratch with very few prepared ingredients. This results in far healthier meals. I think they are tastier too because I can’t stand too much salt and sugar.

The real rub is that it also means I put a significant amount of thought into planning and
preparing meals. When they don’t get eaten it feels like I have completely wasted my time.

My son avoids fast food, as do I. We don’t feel good when we eat it. We don’t like prepared foods either because we were raised on them and are accustomed to the taste of real food, without all the salt and sugar.

My husband’s kids seem to gravitate toward prepared foods and fast food. I have serious concerns about their future health based on their eating habits. I’d like to think I can expand their culinary horizons, broaden their palates, and set them up for better lifelong health.

A lot of this blog is going to reference these three issues. I am hoping that they are issues for other cooks in other families as well, and that sharing my struggle helps someone else with their struggle.

Not a foodie

August 2, 2016August 31, 2016 Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

I worked in an office a while back in which one of my co-workers was introduced to me as a ‘foodie’.

Watching that co-worker eat candy at a desk, several slices of really low quality pizza at a staff party, and generally getting non answers when I asked about food made me begin to question how we all use that word – foodie.

I don’t use the word to describe myself. I do, however, really love food. Good food. Cooking my own food. Experimenting with food. Growing my own food. Going out to restaurants and trying new food.

I am also challenged personally by being the primary cook for a blended family who have not had similar experiences with food.

So, that’s what this blog will be about. How I feed myself. How I feed my family.

But remember, I am not a foodie.