Lemon Posset
It’s almost impossible to believe that lemon posset, a silky soft dessert, shares a name with a medieval cure-all of hot curdled milk and ale. Prescribed as a cold remedy throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, the original posset was more medicine cabinet than dessert bowl. Thank the ingenuity of 19th-century British chefs for rescuing…
garlic scapes hummus
Garlic scapes are the flower bud of the garlic plant and are cut to force the garlic bulbs to grow bigger. Some gardeners throw these away! The flavour is less pungent than a garlic clove and has a subtle scallion flavour. How to use? Think of how you would cook a green vegetable (stir-fry, sauté,…
rhubarb cake – so easy your kids can make it
My mother in law, Aida, is visiting from England and has been with us for the past 12 days. It’s been a whirlwind visit with us trying to fit in every day with something to see, do or eat. At 92 you’d think we would be home more than usual but not with Aida. She’s…
open-face sandwich with poached egg
Sandwiches have been around for centuries. The term sandwich is believed to have been named after John Montagu who was the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Legend has it that in 1762 he asked for meat (most probably salted beef) to be served between slices of bread to avoid interrupting a gambling game. I love a…
Lemon Tart – a bit of sunshine
The weather here has been grey, wet and cooler than our usual Spring. We were in Paris for a week and it either rained or was overcast with periods of rain showers throughout the day. We came home and had a repeat of Paris weather. It’s been so wet mushrooms are sprouting up in our…
Gnocchi mac n’ cheese
Mac n’ cheese (aka macaroni and cheese) has been around since the 1930’s and I grew up with it; both the boxed version and homemade. The afternoon my daughter was born I ate a whole box for lunch…no wonder she likes it. It’s been years since consuming the all-too-orangey-looking commercial stuff.
Paris (La Ville-Lumière)
Mr. S and I recently returned home from a trip to Paris. La Ville-Lumière (city of light) was the center of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment. In 1828, Paris began lighting the Champs-Elysées with gas lamps and earned the nickname “La Ville–Lumière”. Paris is a walkable city and you’ll see far more…
roasted peppers and gorgonzola crostini
Crostini (little crusts in Italian) are the easiest appetizers one can make. There are oodles and oodles of variations and limited only by one’s imagination. Creative ones such as smashed avocado topped with thinly sliced cucumber seasoned with chili flakes and a splash of extra-virgin olive oil or mashed fresh peas with sea salt, extra-virgin…
sorrel with pasta and pork
As a regular reader, you know how much I love our local farmers’ markets. There’s always something new and interesting. I have my favorite vendors I like to visit and one, in particular, is Offbeat Farm. Sarah and Jamie are an energetic and enthusiastic couple and they love what they do – farm on less…
spatchcock cornish hens
Spatchcock you ask? According to the Oxford Companion to Food, “spatchcock is a culinary term found in cookery books of the 18th and 19th centuries, and revived towards the end of the 20th century. It is said to be of Irish origin. The theory is that the word is an abbreviation of ‘dispatch cock’, a…
orange jelly slices
According to What’s Cooking America, gelatin was once considered a sign of wealth, before the commercial version appeared, only members of the elite classes could afford it. It took hours to render gelatin, clarify it, and turn it into fancy aspics, molded salads, desserts. etc. The use of gelatin was a sign that the host…
fish tacos (tacos de pescado)
“What’s for dinner?” asked Mr. S. I said I was thinking of fish and he said good! We haven’t had fish in a while but these days with the way my memory works it was most likely only a week or so ago. Cinco de Mayo (the 1862 victory of the Mexican militia over the…
artichoke pesto
Making use of what’s in your cupboard before expiration date always feels good. I am guilty, at times, of having to throw food out. According to Second Harvest, Canadians waste $31 billion of food every year of which 47% is wasted in the home. Over 30% of fruits and vegetables are rejected by supermarkets because…