When I moved to Toronto from Newfoundland, one thing I couldn't take were all my mother's cookbooks from which I'd been cooking for a few years. It's part of moving out, I know, to start a collection of your own, but there's something beautiful about a book that you and your … [Read more...] about Vanilla Bean Chestnut Purée
One of the Strangest Things I Ever Made: Dehydrated Butternut Squash
Starts like this: Turns into this: Then turns into this: Weird, huh? Yeah, I thought so too. So you take a butternut squash, peel it, cube it (1-inch cubes), soak the cubes for 8 hours in cold water (or overnight), drain, put them on a baking sheet, and stick it in the oven … [Read more...] about One of the Strangest Things I Ever Made: Dehydrated Butternut Squash
Extraordinary Eggplant: Indian Bringal
I've gotten into the habit of roasting or even boiling (in a rush) eggplant and then seasoning it with a blend of "hot", "salty", and "sweet" (ex: cayenne + soy sauce + oyster sauce; chili paste + fish sauce + hoisin; red pepper flakes + miso + mirin, or some combination of these … [Read more...] about Extraordinary Eggplant: Indian Bringal
Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 4
Finally, after 5 days the ginger is ready to be canned. Sterilize the jars, keep them pristine -- no fingers since you are a mold that will contaminate them -- and fill them with the ginger in its syrup which has been drained and brought to a boil one last time. No cold liquid … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 4
Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 3
It's two days later and now I drain the syrup again into a saucepan. I bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium for 8 minutes, then pour it back over the half-confit-ed ginger in the bowl. Cover it. Wait 2 more days. More sleeping. More praying my kitchen isn't too cold and … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 3
Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 2
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of sleep later, I drained the sugar/water from the ginger into a saucepan and brought it to a boil. Reduced the heat to medium to simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. then I poured the syrup (it's almost syrup now) back on top of the ginger … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 2
Patience and Ginger Confit
Wines can take years to make and mature. Alcohol can take months to infuse. Pickles can take weeks to soften in brine... ...so 5 days for ginger confit should be nothing. It should be like getting to the end of one breath and instead of getting bored and moving on to your next … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit
Balance and Seaweed Salad
I ate this over the course of three days and not on one day did I remember to take a picture. Well, the seaweed is long, wide, flat, green and slimy -- kind of like "not my tagliatelle noodles" pictured above -- except my green guy looked like a forest and weren't so perfect. … [Read more...] about Balance and Seaweed Salad
A Peck of Pickled Peppers Not Picked By Peter
I'm not sure if that's actually what I meant to write or if it's just tactile stuttering because I can barely feel my fingers... It was a long bike ride from Jean-Talon this morning and the Tunisian dates and the bison rib didn't keep me warm from the inside out as I'd hoped. I … [Read more...] about A Peck of Pickled Peppers Not Picked By Peter
Pauper’s “Raw” Sun-dried Tomato Pesto and Life-Lemon Juice at Chez Snips, Part 2
I ran out of lemon juice, but I doubt that jives metaphorically with life not giving me lemons anymore. My point is that there was plenty of "life-giving-me-lemon"-juice left over after I made a pound and a half of roasted jerusalem artichokes, and plenty of free time. What do … [Read more...] about Pauper’s “Raw” Sun-dried Tomato Pesto and Life-Lemon Juice at Chez Snips, Part 2