The House & other Arctic musings

When life hands you garlic...

... make soup.

From time to time clients bring me groceries. Often it is a client that is staying for awhile, unsure of whether we offer meals here or not. Some are regular clients, who bring something along with them for me.  Thanks to a couple of clients I recently found myself with a couple of large heads of garlic, and two butternut squash, so I thought I'd try and whip up some sort of soup with them, and was very pleased with the results.

So, here's the recipe, or at least an approximation of what I did, and added.

Take two Butternut Squash, slice them lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Put the squash cut side down on a shallow roasting pan with a layer of water in it. Peel and quarter two medium onions, and place them on the pan also. Lastly, slice the tops off a couple of large heads of garlic, drizzle them with olive oil and place them on the pan also. Cover with aluminum foil and back for an hour at 350. Take the foil off for the last 10 minutes.

Once the vegetables are roasted, and have cooled to the point you can handle them, scoop out the meat of the squash into a pot, squeeze the roasted cloves of garlic out of the head and into the same pot, and add the roasted onion. Add about 2 cups of chicken stock, and a cup of apple juice, season with salt and pepper (I used a fair amount of salt, probably a teaspoon or more) about 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg (mace would work well also) and 1/4 teaspoon of ground sage and 1/2 teaspoon of oregano. I would have used Thyme instead of the sage/oregano but I'm currently out.  Heat to a low boil and puree with a hand blender.  If you don't have a hand blender you can blend it in small batches in a blender. 

Roasted garlic is wonderfully flavourful and very versatile. It is the dominant flavour in this soup by far. It is guaranteed to warm your soul on cool Fall day.

Stirfry

Demonstrating that I am devoid of anything to post about, here is tonights supper, just finishing up on the stove in my great huge 14 inch saute pan.

Physalis and roast red pepper salsa

It has been a long time since I've created a dish. Then these bad boys arrived at the Northern (yeah I know go figure). Physalis is actually a generic name (really its the genus) of a bunch of similar fruits, tomatillos are the most familiar. These often go by names like Ground Cherry, Strawberry Tomatillos, Pineapple Tomatillos etc.  They are tasty on their own, tart and reminiscent of many things, but the first thing that popped into my head when I tried one up here was salsa.

So here is the "recipe" that grew out of that thought (and if you're expecting exact measurements etc. - sorry, you've come to the wrong place).

I used two of these pint containers of Physalis, which works out to roughly around 60 of the smallish fruit (minus, ahem, cook's shrinkage. Hey I had to make sure they weren't off) . Chop them moderately coarsely. Roast a half of a red pepper. As an aside roast red peppers are one of our favourite side vegetables here, especially suited to lamb or steak. They also make a great veggie sandwich. To roast them I coat strips lightly in olive oil, season with salt and throw them under the broiler, turning once.

Chop the roasted red pepper and add to the chopped Physalis. Add about a half of a medium onion, chopped finely, about two cloves of minced garlic (I use garlic that is already minced and probably put in a little less than a teaspoon), about a teaspoon and a half of lime juice, and cilantro. I have frozen cilantro and I used about two teaspoons of that. With fresh you'll have to gauge it to taste, probably a tablespoon or so finely chopped.  Add a crushed dried chile (I'd use fresh but I don't have any) personally I'd use more but I don't just cook for me, and salt.  Let the flavours meld in the fridge for an hour or so and then serve.

I made it for a chip dip, but it would probably be a very nice accompaniment to a grilled char or salmon, or a fried pickeral or jackfish dish. If you can get a hold of some of these lovely little fruit give it a try.

Nikku - the jerky tales

Okay, the vegans amongst you should probably head over here, instead of reading on. For this is a tale of meat, and almost nothing but.

I spent part of last night, and part of today making jerky. Its been awhile but now I'll finally be able to pay off a bet I made with my brother. The jerky I make is quite good so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

I'm making caribou jerky. Caribou is probably the ideal meat to make jerky with, as it is so lean. Fat, is the enemy of jerky. If you're going to use beef, flank is a good cut, but what ever cut you use trim the fat from it, a really nice marbled steak wouldn't be a good choice.

Nikku is actually dried caribou without any seasoning, although I believe the word is also used for the flavoured jerky also. Traditionally nikku was made but cutting caribou meat into strips and hanging it in the sun until dry. I enjoy it, and like a lot of people here like to eat it spread with butter, but what I'm making right now is jerky, complete with seasoning.

Start by cutting your meat into thin strips, if you have trouble doing this partially freeze the meat, it will go easier. The caribou I had to work with was sent up from Cape Dorset by Leah's sister, and last night I sliced up two incredibly tender tenderloins. I know, I know. I wanted nothing more than to lightly season them with roast red pepper and garlic and broil them instead, but I had my orders.  After slicing it up I had to pause as I was missing a key ingredient, so everything went into a large non-reactive bowl and into the fridge until today.

The marinade is pretty simple.  The amount I'm giving you below will do about two to three pounds of meat. I had about twice that so I doubled it.  Mix together:

2/3 cup worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
a healthy dollop of fresh ground pepper.  I guesstimate but probably at least a teaspoon
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 crushed dried chile (more to taste - personally I'd like more but this amount seems to work for everyone else.)

mix the marinade in with the sliced caribou and let sit in the fridge for at least eight hours. Toss it every once in a while.

I use an American Harvest dehydrator, set at 145 F. Lay down the strips on trays in a single layer. It will probably take about eight hours in the dehydrator, you have to judge it for yourself depending on the thickness of the strips. When they are done they can be stored in an airtight container for about 3 months.

In theory anyway, ours never last that long.

Dreams of a cup of coffee.

One of my favourite coffee experiences involved coffee that was quite unlike any other cup I've had. Every trip that I've made to Cuba included a visit to a 19th century coffee plantation. Isabelica was established at the end of the 18th century by a plantation owner who had fled the slave rebellion in Haiti. Although not a working coffee farm it is still in remarkable shape and is now a tourist destination. One room, a powerful reminder of the slavery that took place there, contained not only coffee growing tools, but shackles and tools of the slave labour. The most powerful reminder? A simple hole in the floor, to protect the belly of pregnant slaves that were being whipped.

On each visit there we did two things. One was take a group photo on the steps.  The other was to pause for a simple, but fabulous cup of coffee. The coffee was roasted along with raw sugar, in a very dark roast, then ground with a mortar and pestal. The grounds were placed in a long cloth filter and boiling water from a kettle poured over them. Reminiscent of a wonderful espresso it had a taste, the hint of the sugar, that was simply unrivaled.

Today I ordered some coffee beans from Cuba. I know it won't be the same, roasted in Canada without sugar. But I'm anxious to try them, and perhaps get a little hint of those great cups of coffee at Isabelica and another farm we'd stop at. I'm hoping that this morning cup of Joe will take me back to the island and friends I've not seen for so long.

This ain't Philadelphia

I'm finding it very difficult to stay away.

One thing I've discovered about not blogging is that I enjoy blogging.  I also blog in my head all the time. A blizzard in August? Well I'd write it like this. Travis' first day of school? Hasn't happened yet because of a persistent sore throat? But I'd write it like this. I miss it, plus I'm feeling pangs of guilt over three books I've received but have yet to review.  I miss the writing, I miss the connections, I miss blogging.

So coupled with the fact that stopping blogging didn't help my time management at all, (I just found other things to take me away from what I should be doing. The good news is I managed to finish a post-consultant rewrite of the screenplay but that didn't take me any closer to getting the stuff I needed done done) I'm going to resume this exercise in vanity. 

As an aside, while I'm talking about vanity, thank you for all of the wonderful comments. I specifically didn't allow comments on my "goodbye" post because I didn't want to turn it into a head swelling plea for kind words. But, of course you thwarted those attempts, and I'm humbled by your words and emails. Of course I'm also aware of the maxim that the best way to have people say nice things about you is to retire, leave, or die.  Now I've done two, and I'm not ready to try the third quite yet, but thanks.

So, on with the post I wrote last night in my head while cooking supper.  While I've never been to Philadelphia, city of Brotherly love... Broad Street Bullies... and Cheese steak sandwiches and all, I do make an enjoyable steak sandwich. One I enjoy more than any of the incantations of steak sandwiches than I've had. This is last night's version.

I slice onion's thinly and half them, so they aren't rings. Sautéed (ideally in olive oil but I haven't had any in awhile) until they just start to caramelize, then I add a large dollop of minced garlic and sauté briefly, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Add thinly sliced steak (I try and use Sirloin strip), season with Roast Garlic and Red Pepper seasoning, and sautée more until the steak is almost done.

By the way, if you leave the steak frozen you can slice it thinner. Thaw before cooking. I added a touch of truffle oil and a generous amount of slice morel mushrooms (these were reconstituted dry ones - courtesy of my wonderful brother) and sauté until done.  Served on toast (subway buns were not an option here this week) topped with blue cheese (courtesy a client who brought some up from Ottawa).  Don't over do the cheese so it doesn't over power the rest of the sandwich. 

I usually serve it with home-made fries, but last night was with my favourite "baked" potatos. They are simple and can be done in the oven or on the Barbeque. For each packet use a couple of hearty slices of onion, and a potato thinly sliced. Place on a sheet of aluminum foil and season with salt and pepper. Add a dollop of butter and grate chedder on top. Fold the foil to make a sealed packet and bake for 45 minutes in a 350 oven. 

Magical Mushrooms

Much to my surprise I received a package in the mail today, that had a couple of plastic bags of dried mushrooms in it.  No, not those mushrooms (I just lost half of my readers from the west coast), but dried morels.  They are a culinary delight.

Growing up in Roblin, every spring would bring a bounty of fresh morels, that dad, and sometimes the rest of us, would pick.  If memory serves me correct the usual method of serving them was to fry them in butter and serve them on toast.  Now I have to confess that when I was young I wasn't much of a fan of eating fungi, morels included, but now that I'm almost grown I've grown to love morels.

The unfortunate thing is I never get to eat them anymore (collective sigh). My brother still picks them come spring, but the high arctic is a long way from their range of distribution. So I do without. Until today. Now I've got to come up with away to incorporate them.  I'm thinking a burger, topped with a morel sauce made with reconstituted morels, onion, garlic fried in butter, followed by a slice or two of truffel that I brought back from France.  Or perhaps a tenderloin of caribou, topped with a morel sauce of chopped fried morels, garlic, reduced chicken and liquids left over from the reconstitution and perhaps some apple juice.  Hmm, yeah, with a healthy dollop of pepper. Or maybe just fried in butter and served on toast.

Thanks Bro, you're the best. (but not the smartest).  Love you.

Cream Pie Reminiscences

I got baking tonight.  The urge overtook me. That and Leah and Travis have both been after me to bake an Apple Pie. The thing with baking, is if you're going to bake one pie, you might as well make more. The kitchen is going to be a mess anyway, and your return on your time is greater.  So I baked (with both Leah and Travis' help) an Apple Pie (such a simple recipe and so good), two cream pies, and a Blueberry Cheesecake.

I made a Banana Cream and a Coconut Cream pie, the custard base is the same for the two, it's only the last step that differs. Want the recipe?  Okay, you'll need a pie shell, you could use a bought one, but pie pastry is simple, and I just blind bake a bottom shell.  In a heavy saucepan mix 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup corn starch and 1/4 tsp of salt, and then add 3 cups of milk, mixing well.  Heat over a medium to medium high heat until the mixture thickens and boils, and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and add 3 egg yolks (temper them first with three or so spoonfuls of the hot custard). Return it to heat and stirring constantly (which you should be pretty much doing anyway the entire time the custard is on the heat) heat until the mixture begins to bubble again.  Remove from heat and add 2 tsp vanilla and 2 tbsp of butter.  Its at this stage you diverge.

For Coconut Cream pie, add a cup of coconut and pour into your pie shell, refrigerate until completely set, about 4 hours.

For Banana Cream pie, cool the crust completely and line it with sliced bananas (about two).  Mash a half of a banana and add it to the custard.  Cool the custard to luke warm before adding it to the pie shell and again refrigerate until set.  Top both with whipped cream.

When I was a young boy every Saturday my dad would take me to the local McLeod's Store on Main Street in Roblin.  Every Saturday he'd buy me a slice of Banana Cream Pie (sometimes he'd have Banana Cream and some times he'd have Coconut Cream Pie) and we'd sit there at that lunch counter and savour that creamy goodness, but even more we'd savour our time together and the ritual that we'd observe almost without fail.  It is, without a doubt, amongst my most happy  memories of a pretty happy childhood. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have a slice of each, one for Dad and one for me.  And I'll probably call him.

Sorrel in my salad

Lately I've gathering Mountain Sorrel (Oxyria digyna) and adding it to my green salads.  Mountain Sorrel is one of the (few) plants used in a traditional diet up here.  It's red waxy flours were used to make tea and the leaves eaten.

Very high in Vitamin C, it's leaves are crisp and have quite a tart flavour to them.  Although they are high in "C" the addition of it to the inuit diet did not add the bulk of their vitamins. By far most of the vitamins in a traditional diet come from the consumption of raw meats - seal, caribou, fish and muktaq. 

I enjoy the tart goodness of Mountain Sorel and will often reach down a pick up a couple of leaves for refreshment. I think it adds nicely to the salads, and I only wish I had some Nasturtiums to add a peppery counterpoint to it.

Mmmm Chocolate

So, I had a hit on the blog today from someone querying "Lilliebelle Farms on YouTube", and I had to follow the link. Jeff, Belle and Lillie Shepherd are friends of mine, who now live in Oregon, but when I met them ran the best B&B in the world, which happened to be in Kauai. They left paradise to carve their own paradise out in Oregon, which is now an Organic Berry Farm where he makes artisan chocolates that have garnered raves all over.

Jeff is one of the coolest people you'll meet, chef, artist, Deadhead, Tie-dye shirt impresario, radio host, and I guess farmer also.  He actually knows (and has served chocolates) to the Grateful Dead. So I was hoping that the link would lead me to a video of Jeff, but alas it didn't.  It did however lead me to an audio podcast with Jeff talking about his chocolates, and you should go have a listen.  Somehow munching on these dark chocolate Hershey Kisses just isn't the same.  I mean caramel, lavender and salt with Chocolate, sigh.

And while you're thinking about chocolate, pop on over to my BlogMom's place. nuthatch at Bootstrap Analysis is celebrating her third Blogiversary and would like some chocolate cake.  Three years is like forever in the blogosphere, and hers is the best blog out there (and I'm not just saying that because she inspired me to start down this journey). So go visit and send her some love.  Happy Blogiversary BlogMom.