Recipes
Coddled eggs
Moving house can turn up old memories attached to unused items too good to throw out, for which opportunistic gifting can make two parties happy. I dropped in and found my friend Jan contemplating a pair of egg coddlers that her mother had given her. They were in their original blue Royal Worcester divided box, the instructions still attached on a perforated card, meant to be torn off and saved for future reference, such as when they are regifted to a coddler newbie.
Nopales: cactus with blood glucose benefits
Nopales are the fleshy pads of the prickly pear cactus. Nopales are eaten all day in Mexico: had them in scrambled eggs, and also as a breakfast side - delicious little stir-fry with onion and tomato, and probably lard. They appear in salads and stews, at all-inclusive resort buffets where they hold well in steam trays, and in fine dining that is serving up local and traditional foods.
Lard: Better than butter
One of the reasons I love cooking while we’re travelling is so I can participate in the market, not just observe it. I looked forward to two weeks in San Miguel de Allende to shop and cook, as well as to change pace - too many days on the move and we started to ask each other, What city are we in? For the first few days, I went to El Nigromante, the market in the centro historico, the old colonial city. There’s another market, El Mercado de los Dios, not any farther from our apartment, but away from the city centre. Down that steep hill there is another world of shops and living, market stalls full of knock-off barbie-pink packages, shoe stores (so many shoe stores everywhere), and a bus terminal. As I walked around, snapping some pix, I heard many say “Chino” (Chinese) to each other; they were looking at me and I was looking at them. Kind of evens things out. Giving back in the amusing things to look at department.
Borders: What will we eat?
We crossed into Mexico at Nogales, south of Tucson, AZ. Nogales is a rough town, known for drug war shoot-outs and dentists catering to American medical tourists. We were a little tense, wanting to get south to avoid any cross-fire. Sorting out the entry paperwork can be done right at the border, or at Kilometer 21, and the latter provided more parking, fewer hustlers and many cashiers at the Banjercito where the tourist card and temporary vehicle import permit must be purchased. Having left Tucson at 8:30, we were ready for lunch, but unsure where to eat. As we slowed to pass through a small town roundabout, navigating “peatones” or speed bumps, there was a busy row of taco stands, cars and trucks angle-parked in front of them. We pulled in where we could and then saw there were no customers inside. Is this like Chinese restaurants - you want the one where the locals eat? There was a huge pile of spectacularly fresh green onions beside the grill - what were they for? The guy working the grill beckoned us in, and we decided to risk it.
Pacific northwest autumn fare:
Halibut and matsutake
I’ve been away from the website, getting ready for a road trip. Before we left, I vowed to eat through our deep freeze. Top of the list was the halibut I bought this fall from a fisherman in Richmond. Each fish was tagged, weighed and the sale recorded in a notebook. Len filleted our 32 pound fish….
Beef short ribs in Sri Lankan coconut curry:
How to lower the carb count
Maybe the world is divided into those who enjoy meat on the bone and those who don’t. Count me in the bone-loving group. A favourite cut is beef short ribs with their connective tissue and textural variety. It seems that my preference for food that I have to handle and chew is a bit out of fashion, as we’ve seen the rising popularity of tender, pure muscle cuts such as tenderloin. Here’s a dish that works well with beef short ribs, tenderizing them through braising - long cooking in a liquid at low heat.
Pork crackling snacks
My parents were experts at making every food dollar count. If there was a bone in the meat, it went into the soup pot, and the skin on a ham was fried and seasoned as snack food. Dad used the electric frying pan to render and crisp small slivers of skin. They were so hard that I was afraid they might crack my teeth. He would have loved this recipe for pork skin, puffed and crisp, and not so hard to invite dentistry. But first, a few words about fat - the fringe movement for its redemption, and a few startling scientific findings.
Friends and neighbours chile:
What inspires your meals?
We’ve had our share of intense summer heat, so I’m not complaining that it’s been a little drizzly. That means it’s not a golfing day, so dinner planning could involve something that required ongoing attention, something warming and long-cooked. There are times when I’m inspired by finding some great produce in the market, or reading a recipe. Today, it was the little cast iron pot, a gift from Katerina. She had bought when she first moved out, more than thirty years ago. It is about 7”(18cm) across and 4”(9cm) deep, of heavy cast iron, matte black, inside and out, and beautifully finished. The round plastic nob on the lid says “Cousances”, and doesn’t get hot on the stove. On the underside of the lid is stamped Cousances, along with Made in France and 18. This pot has finer, more refined lines than similar Le Creuset pots, that I’ve burned and trashed over the years.
Vanilla cream agar jelly: a simplified method
Since posting my earlier agar mousse recipe, I’ve figured out a simple microwave method for making cream and fruit jellies. With less than 5 minutes preparation time, it’s even faster than using powdered or flaked agar. Sweetened with Da Vinci sugar-free syrup or other low-carb sweetener, it’s a low-carb dessert.
Grass-fed Beef Carpaccio
I love meat, red meat. In April, I took delivery of a mixed quarter of beef - front and hind - from Back Valley Ranch, a relatively local producer, near Cache Creek, about 350 km/220 miles, or 4 hours northeast of Vancouver, BC. My beef came from an animal that grazed in the summer, and ate alfalfa hay during the winter months, understandable, as Cache Creek has real Canadian winter. Later in the year, the cattle will be fully pasture-fed. Jerry, the rancher, delivered my 80 lb., packaged and frozen to my door. Along with the freezer chest behind pickup cab, he had a load of thick long beams, reclaimed wood from a demolition sale. With some encouragement, he took our spare roofing shingles from 2 roofs ago. We had put them in the alley, hoping someone would find them useful. Ranchers are resourceful recyclers, a trait I admire. I suspect that we both thought the other person was doing us a favour.
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