What the heck is apple butter? Is it apple-flavoured butter? What do you do with it? These are all valid questions. Here are the answers: Apple butter is just apple butter cooked down to a spreadable, sort of butter-like consistency. It is not butter at all, thus is not … [Read more...] about Slow Cooker Apple Butter
Small Bites and Spreads
Homogenizers, Pacojets, and Other Things You Only See Online
You can buy lots of amazing gourmet food online. You can also choose to buy the equipment online that makes it amazing, and make your own. Well, sometimes you can. Like a dehydrator. You can buy a dehydrator to make crackers or fruit jerky, for example, but a pacojet and a … [Read more...] about Homogenizers, Pacojets, and Other Things You Only See Online
Sweet Cherry Jam and Pitting 12 lbs of Cherries
12 lbs is a lot. It makes a lot of jam, but it also makes for black fingers. For 4 days I looked like a hardcore gardener. No one would have believed I can't even keep basil alive, or that parsely wilts at my gaze, and my poor, poor strawberry plant never stood a chance. But I'm … [Read more...] about Sweet Cherry Jam and Pitting 12 lbs of Cherries
Fermented Green Sriracha Chili Pepper Sauce
Homemade Sriracha Chili Sauce Know when you go for Vietnamese food and there's a bright red bottle on the table with a green tip? It's called Sriracha sauce, aka "rooster sauce", and it's made from fermented red chili peppers with vinegar, salt, and sugar. The problem is it's … [Read more...] about Fermented Green Sriracha Chili Pepper Sauce
Almost Raw Sprouted Chickpea Hummus
I've already mentioned the Biosta sprouter I was gifted and the problem with sprouting small grains and lentils (they get stuck in the troughs and go moldy), but I've had some relative success with chickpeas. Some. Not a lot. Enough for a few batches of hummus, though. I have … [Read more...] about Almost Raw Sprouted Chickpea Hummus
Best Roasted Eggplant Dip (Baingan Ki Chutney)
Another winner from "My Indian Kitchen". The recipe is here, so I feel okay about reprinting it loosely below. For more precise instructions see author Hari Nayak's website. So I mentioned I'm obsessed with eggplant in my last restaurant review of Bombay Choupati just outside … [Read more...] about Best Roasted Eggplant Dip (Baingan Ki Chutney)
Babaghanoush with Pomegranate
I made this a long time ago and then I got swept up with fish. It's not gourmet but it sure is delicious. I should probably stop eating entire eggplant after roasting them. It's probably hard on digestion. I guess it's too late to make that a New Years resolution. And, really, … [Read more...] about Babaghanoush with Pomegranate
Broccoli, Green Bean, and Snow Pea Sweet Sesame Salad
This is a basic Japanese creamy dressing with a few substitutions, all fancied up with a ton of cilantro. If you do the entire recipe it's going to be gorgeous and it's just gourmet enough to sneak its way into this cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi. But you can also just make the … [Read more...] about Broccoli, Green Bean, and Snow Pea Sweet Sesame Salad
Wild Blueberry Jam and “Not Bankrupting Myself for the Sake of Overpriced Fruit”
I knew I'd written about blueberries in Montreal before. Turns out that about 1 year ago I bought a bunch of blueberries from Jean-Talon market and turned them into a simple blueberry sauce/quick fridge jam with cinnamon and lemon juice, inspired by my mom's blueberry pie recipe. … [Read more...] about Wild Blueberry Jam and “Not Bankrupting Myself for the Sake of Overpriced Fruit”
Mango Chutney + Frozen Mango Chunks + Eating Fresh Mango with a Spoon
When I was buying my 4 pounds of white peaches, I also bought 2 cases of mangoes. Yes, 2 cases! That's about 20 mangoes. The big Kent ones. Not the small yellow Altaulfu or Alphonso mangoes. These guys come from a bit further south and have some body weight. I went to a different … [Read more...] about Mango Chutney + Frozen Mango Chunks + Eating Fresh Mango with a Spoon