I read a comment from another blog recently.  The writer was making note of the changes in food presentation and ultimately in the food that we are making these days.  It's homier.  It's stew, it's curry, it's a mess on a plate.  We've turned ever so slowly from making food with ingredients that we have to source from expensive grocers and begun to appreciate a simpler way... and with it we get the pictures of  food ladled on a plate in a big glop.
I kinda like it though.  It's simple.  It's the way I cook.  It's the way I've always cooked and the way I prefer to cook.  I feel like I want to go out for fancy food.  I'm going to pay for the whole experience of it.  I love the creativity that you get from a high end restaurant and the appreciation for the whole experience beginning to end.  However, I don't feel the need to cook that way at home.  Plus, I want leftovers.  If I had to cook every single night I would have done something awful to myself way before now.  I like leftovers and some things taste better as leftovers than they did the day they were made.  Also, I don't have the time or the techniques to pull it all off successfully - and mistakes can be expensive when you are talking about fancy stuff.
I'm at that stage of life when I don't feel like I need to apologize for who I am.  I don't want to have to pretend that I'm something other than that.  I want what I want and that's the end of it.
This dish is nothing new necessarily.  Who hasn't  read about asparagus risotto before?  You know what though?  It's good.  It works.  It's not too difficult.  It makes leftovers.  It's homey.


On a different note, I'm totally enjoying the spring veggies that are taking the starring role right now.  After a long winter of root veggies and squash it's so wonderful to have the greens again and the short lived fiddleheads.  I think that this is my last batch of fiddleheads for the season and I've probably just got one more week of asparagus.  I love the cyclical nature of it all and I feel renewed.  So I'm going to go and plop some food on my plate (leftovers at that) and enjoy every second of my spring veggies with creamy rice and cheese and say a big thank you for it all.


Asparagus, Fiddlehead and Sausage Risotto
serves 4 - 6

2 cups (less about 2 tbsp) arborio rice
4 cups warm vegetable (or chicken) broth
2 cups (1 bunch) asparagus, ends off and chopped into large chunks
2 1/2 cup fiddleheads, cut into 1 1/2 pieces or so
1/2 cup chives, chopped
4 large sausages (mild), sliced thin (feel free to use less or even leave them out)
1 cup (or just under) cream
salt
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Heat a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan over med heat.
Add in about 3 tbsp of oil and add in the asparagus and fiddleheads.  Saute in the oil for about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and stir well so that the rice is coated with the oil.
Begin to add the heated broth one ladleful at a time.  Stir well and make sure that the liquid remains simmering the whole time.  You might want to turn down the heat to low.  Continue adding the liquid until it's all used up.
Add the sausage and stir well.
Add in the cream.


Add the salt to taste and the parmesan cheese.
Check the taste, adjust if necessary and serve.

Spring mania continues in my house.  It feels like summer now though... in fact it was so warm yesterday that in the course of about 12 hours my beans seedlings all popped through the ground and into the light.
We're cooking with asparagus, fiddleheads, wild leeks, dandelion greens... Spring Mania.
My rhubarb mania continues too.  A few weeks ago my Mom told me that she made this rhubarb recipe that was amazing and she was going to make it again and was totally over the moon about it and all that. She sent me the recipe and told me that I should make them ASAP... which I would gladly have done if I'd had enough butter... and sugar... and time.
The food box arrived yesterday full of wonderful spring vegetables... and butter... and sugar.  So, I made the bars.


Let's just be frank here, You. Need. To. Make. These. Bars.
Yeah, they're that good.  Truth be told, they're great.  Low in sugar they are not, so you will only want one at a time (not bingeing is always a good thing) but they are really really really good... and gooey... and sweet... and tart.  Ack, what a combination.
I shared, because I'm nice that way and I don't want fat hips and holey teeth, with my neighbours.  You could share too if you make them.  These beauties would be great at a potluck function, a spring festival, a bake sale... your own cookie jar.
I'm off to try another rhubarb recipe and I have to make sure that I save some for the strawberry rhubarb jam that will be coming with strawberry season.  Ahhhh!  I love spring!


Rhubarb Custard Bars... from my Mom
makes one square pan of bars

Base:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (hard is fine)

Filling:
2 cups (I used about 3 and it wasn't too much) fresh rhubarb, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Topping
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp butter, cold and cubed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a square 8x8 baking dish with parchment, leave a little draped over the edges so that it's easy to remove.
Make a crumble of the base ingredients by using a fork or a pastry cutter.  Press the crumbly dough into the bottom of the baking pan.  Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the edges are beginning to turn golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the chopped rhubarb over the baked base.  In a bowl combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt.  Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Pour the whole thing over the rhubarb.


In another bowl combine the topping flour and sugar.  Cut in the butter until it forms a crumb.  Sprinkle over the rhubarb/egg mixture.


Bake for about 35 or 40 minutes or until it's not jiggling too much in the middle.
Cool completely before cutting.

Although you would never guess by the weather we've been having, it is technically spring.  Unbelievably, I've already cut the grass once and the green everywhere is almost cartoonish.  My lavender has come and gone.  The irises and poppies are well on their way and I've got about one more harvest of rhubarb before it fades away until next year.


This week in the food box I got asparagus and dandelion greens.  It was until after taking the dandelion greens out of the box, giving them a good, thoughtful lookover that the error of my ways hit me.  Why was I paying for dandelion greens when I've got them growing like mad in the yard.  I don't put pesticides on my grass and neither does anyone nearby (it's the law here in the Tdot and I'm not sorry for it).  I'm planting all kinds of other stuff in the garden, why not start foraging in the grass as well.  It's all greens.  So... that's this week's revelation for 'ya.
By the By, this blog that I've been keeping up with called 'Chicken Tender' is written by someone who is renting to own a plot of land outside of San Francisco.  She and family are really making a go of it as farmers to sustain themselves and learning by the seat of their pants.  Chicken Tender posted a very interesting article just a few days ago about her own struggle/frustration/disillusionment with both the urban environmental movement and with civilization itself.  I found the article both vulnerable and relatable.  Check it out here if you are interested.  I'm always in a state of sadness/anger/frustration at the world that I live in AND participate in.  I have to admit that I'm part of it.  Coffee cups are a perfect example for me personally.  It always makes me sick to think that in Toronto about a million (yeah... that's 1 000 000) cups go into landfill everyday.  Now, I'm not a coffee drinker but I do bow down at the alter of Starbucks a couple of times a week for my... get ready for it... half sweet/no whip/hot chocolate - which sounds ludicrous and I can't verbalize it without snickering.  Often I bring my own mug but sometimes I don't, cause sometimes I just feel like I'm the only one, that it doesn't really matter and that now there will still be 999 999 coffee cups going into landfill.  I guess that the honest answer is
a.  Absolutely everything we do has an effect on the environment around us 'cause we're human and we eat and all that.
b.  If I'm really looking for a way to leave the frustration/anger/sadness behind then I should just not go to SB and forgo the stupid sounding hot chocolate altogether.

Okay... so here I am getting off the stupid soapbox, pretty convinced that the end of the world didn't happen last week and moving on with things...


So, this recipe was using the above mentioned asparagus and dandelion greens and I put some bread in it and all that crap.  It was supposed to look beautifully golden on the top... then I started watching a show at about 9pm and forgot to take it out.  It baked for about 10 minutes longer than it should have.  The golden turned to burned brown... whatever... it still tasted good... just looks bad.   Does that qualify as a disaster?
I'm gonna think about that one while I'm squatting in my back yard cutting all my dandelion greens... YUM.


Asparagus, Dandelion Green Strata (I think that's what it's called when bread is involved)
adapted from Deborah Madison
serves 4 - 6

3 - 4 slices of bread (use something substantial that will stand up to being in liquid)
2 cups asparagus,
3 cups (or so) dandelion greens, chopped
1 cup baby leek, sliced thin
1/4 cup (or so) chives, chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 veggie bouillion cube
1 tsp pepper sauce (optional)
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp Worcestershire
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (or so) cheddar, grated
1/2 cup parmesan, grated

preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Butter a rectangular or oblong baking dish.
Combine the eggs, sour cream, milk, flour, Worcestershire together and set aside.
Heat a large pan over med/low heat.  Add some oil of your choice.  Add in the asparagus and leeks, stir constantly.  Heat for a few minutes then add in the greens, chives and garlic.  Moving around constantly, heat through for another five minutes.
Throw the veggies into the baking dish, add the egg mixture and mix that all up together.  Add in the cheddar and about half of the parmesan and mix that all up together.
Add the bread chunks and just immerse each chunk enough so that it's been glazed with the egg mixture.
Sprinkle the very top with the remaining parmesan.
Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes, or until it's bubbly and the top is golden brown... and don't watch tv while you are deciding exactly when that might be.

I remember having a conversation with KT a couple of months ago.  I was, once again, lamenting over being exhausted and feeling unfulfilled by the things which are really supposed to be fulfilling (if poor KT had a dime for every time I bitched about feeling tired and/or wanting to find myself she would be rich - what a great, patient friend).  KT asked me what I would do if I didn't have to work for a pay cheque.  That was easy...
I would :

Run
do Yoga
Garden
go back to school for a Masters Degree
Volunteer
Bake
Cook
Bike
go to the Market
Read

Jeez, I can't make money doing any of that!  However, on my holiday earlier this week I got to do quite a few of the things on my list.  It was totally a 'fun' day - running, gardening, cooking, baking, reading... sleeping.
My garden got a huge kick in the butt and I'm happy to tell you that I've got my beans,


carrots,


zucchini


and tomatoes


planted.  I still need a few more things in there but hey... it's a start and it was so awesome to just be outside putting what will hopefully grow into food into the ground.
In the meantime, my refrigerator was empty... well, almost.  It is totally empty now.  I made this little beauty and it was delightful.


Let's talk for a minute about ground meat.  I find that I have to season ground meat quite intensely for it to really have some serious flavour.  This is why I like doing something like a curry or a soy sauce thing - those flavours are so strong.  The recipe below is based on that.  I just kept adding another bit of whatever into the pot until I liked the flavour that I got.  Feel free to add or subtract as your tastes dictate.  I had a little bit of cabbage left in the crisper and threw it in to get it used up - feel free to add more bok choy or some other green if you have it.


Bok Choy and Ground Pork Stir Fry
serves 4

1 lb (approx. - it's very loose) ground pork
3 - 4 cups bok choi, chopped
1 small onion, sliced
1 cup cabbage (or other greens if you have), sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, crushed
5 heaping tbsp freshly grated ginger
4 tbsp Soy Sauce or Tamari
4 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 heaping tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)


Heat a Wok over med/high heat.  Turn the heat down to medium.  Add in some oil (about 2 - 3 tbsp).  Throw in all the veggies save the garlic.  Stir frequently until the bok choi begins to soften.  Add in the garlic and the ginger.  Continue to stir frequently for about 3 minutes.
Add in the ground pork and cook together with the veggies for about 5 minutes.
Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and Hoisin Sauce.  Turn the heat down to low.
Add in the red pepper flakes.
Check the taste and adjust if necessary.
Serve over rice.

Sometimes the gods just smile down on you.  We all had a holiday earlier this week.  In Canada we still celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday with a day off and fire works - it's weird, I know.  If you're not sure who Queen Vic is just google her and you'll get the scoop.
So, I'm gettin my garden working again... the weather is generally great.  I go for a run.  I continue finishing up my garden work.  I start cooking and get two dishes done for the week to come.  Then I go outside and cut some of this


out of my rhubarb patch... how heavenly is that... I get it from my backyard.  I'm feeling so pleased with myself while doing this.


I proceed to make these stupid easy muffins (which Kids might not eat because rhubarb isn't sweet and chocolatey but that's another post).  Next thing I know, the doorbell rings.  It's my Mom-in-Law and her husband.  They decided to drop by for an impromptu visit.  This is totally awesome for me because even though I haven't cleaned my house and there are toys everywhere in the toy room, the kitchen floor hasn't been swept since the morning and it's now strewn with grass and dirt from outside, Kid #2 decided to bring his pillow and comforter downstairs so that he could 'sleep' on the living room floor and I haven't even looked in the bathroom yet, because I haven't even looked in said bathroom I also haven't looked in mirror and/or brushed my hair, I still have my gardening clothes on... I've got homemade muffins to serve them.


Let me tell you, I had put those muffins on plate for them before they'd even gotten their shoes off.  Nothing can distract you from the mess around you like some good food.  Also, it made me look like a domestic goddess (to coin a phrase) having these things ready to put out for visitors.
Now granted, I was still pushing things out of view with my foot while keeping my eyes fixed intently on the person in front of me but what the hey... I made muffins.  They oh'd and ah'd about the muffins and then gave me bonus points for harvesting the rhubarb from the backyard... score.
So I'm trying hard to think of what the moral of this story might be.  What the hell... make muffins and then see what happens.


Rhubarb Streusel Muffins
makes 12 med/large muffins

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup melted butter (unsalted)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb

(Streusel - I used some of the streusel from Ottolenghi that I still have in the freezer - 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cold butter - combine until it forms a good crumb - freezes for a long time.  Feel free to use any streusel topping that you might fancy)


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Line a muffin tin with liners.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
Combine the egg, buttermilk, melted butter and brown sugar together in a bowl and whisk until it's all well combined.
Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture.  Stir just until the flour is completely incorporated.
Add in the rhubarb and mix together.


Scoop into prepared muffin cups.  Sprinkle with about a tablespoon or more of the streusel.
Bake for about 15 - 20 min (mine were done after about 17 min. so keep an eye on them at the end), check with a tester to make sure that the batter is done.
Cool for a couple of minutes before removing from the tins.

Yup.  I got some fiddleheads.  It's spring... in Canada... it's a tradition thing... I've never had them before - I had to add that because sometimes we just spew out these things, items, veggies, traditions, whatever that we're all supposed to know and revere... Yeah, fiddleheads are this big spring thingy and are a big deal AND I've never eaten them, made them, foraged for them... nothing.


Fiddleheads are the first bit of an ostrich fern that begins to curl it's way out of the thawing ground in the spring.  It's a lovely thing when you think about it, slowly unfurling itself toward the sun and warmth of the new season (except we haven't had much of either over the last couple of weeks here in T.O - yeah, I'm a little bitter).  Their season is short, much like asparagus, and they have some great nutritional and health benefits.  Fiddleheads are like morels in that they are often just foraged for as well and not necessarily farmed.  Whatever, its all good.  I got mine from the food box and I'm happy with that.
Fiddleheads taste like... greens, I guess.  They certainly don't taste like chicken.  They have a lot more bit to them than greens do though.  Kid #1 wasn't in love with them but she ate them happily enough.  I know of a lot of people who did not like asparagus at first either.  I think it's one of those tastes that needs to grow on you.  I'm interested in trying some other recipes with these though.  So, a new challenge begins - back to the spring produce.  I have to think... stir fry's, omelette's, quiche.  I can probably use fiddleheads just like I would use any other green.  I like the seasonal aspect of using them.  Things somehow seem more special when you don't just cook the same way all year around.  It feels amazing to have something green and fresh to eat that's not just a leaf - ya know?  These things are not around for long so it's special to have them when they are in season and fresh... Plus, they're kinda weird looking which also has some cache with me.  Asparagus (another weird looking spring veggie) will be coming in as well, probably very soon - even next week.  Spring has arrived even if the sun has forgotten for the last little while.



Baked Penne, Fiddleheads and Mushrooms
serves 6

4 cups cooked penne pasta (reserve a little pasta water)
1/2 cup onion, diced (ramps or young leek would be even better)
2 cups fiddleheads
3 cups mushrooms, quartered
2 cups spring greens (spinach, dandelion, whatever)
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup goat cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp each: oregano, basil, parsley (use fresh if you have)
1 veggie bouillion cube (low salt, organic)
1 1/2  cups cream or milk
salt and pepper sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Heat a large pot over medium heat.  Throw in some oil (2 or 3 tbsp will do) and add in the onion, fiddleheads and mushrooms.  Lower the heat to med/low and toss it gently for about 7 min. or so.  Add in the greens and let the greens wilt.
Add in the cream cheese and goat cheese and mix it into the veggies until the cheese is creamy.  Add in the herbs, bouillion cube and cream or milk.  Once the cream has heated a little add in the parmesan leaving out just enough to sprinkle over the top of the casserole dish.
Add a little of the pasta water if the mixture is still too thick.  Make sure the thickness is good for you.  Add in the salt and pepper sauce to your own tastes.
Remove from heat and add in the cooked pasta.  Mix well and pour into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top.
Bake for 15 minutes or until a little brown and crispy on the top.
Cool slightly before serving.

I'm on a stupid roll here... first it was yet another chocolate chip recipe and now... another brownie recipe.  It's an illness.
I need therapy.
I have no defence.
In any case, nobody in this house is complaining about my issues - at least when it comes to baking.
What was supposed to be our rainy, crappy long weekend turned out to be warm and more proportionately sunny than rainy.  That's enough to celebrate right there.  I got to cap off my long weekend with my friend T coming over.  Once the kids were in bed and D got home from a gig we all laughed and drank merrily AND ate... these... right?  No complaints... remember.


What's more... two days later I got to spend the afternoon with my BFF (yeah I'm an adult and I use the term BFF - get over it) KT.  We meandered, we shopped (visiting some new shops is always fun), we sat down for drinks and chatted, drank and had some nibbles.  Even later, D and I finally got a chance to go out ourselves and enjoy a belated anniversary celebration.
I have to tell you another thing about my quirky self.  I used to love lay-away.  I know it's ghetto... whatever... it was awesome.  No one does it anymore and hardly anyone even remembers it.  Now that we all have credit cards and want things immediately we've done away with the habit of saving or paying something off slowly and not having it in our hands until it's paid.  So... what I do now is buy gift cards.  Every month I buy a gift card for whatever shop I want to purchase something in and once I have a significant amount of money then I go and do a guilt free shop.  Over the last year and a half (yeah - it took me that long) I saved enough gift cards to go and buy myself this awesome bag at Roots (a canadian company no less).  I was pumped.  KT joined me in the fun... it was awesome.


So that was my weekend, which has nothing to do with brownies but do brownies really need a whole lot of writing to prop them up?  I don't think so.
P.S.  as Dave said in the book... don't skrimp-out on the 1 minute of vigorous stirring (think of it as part of your workout) - it makes a difference and it's pretty cool to see the batter transform.


Dave's Friends Best Brownies adapted from Dave Lebovitz 'Ready for Dessert'
makes 1 square pan

6 tbsp (3 oz) unsalted or salted butter, cut into pieces
8 oz (225 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt 70%)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 lg eggs at room temperature
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup of white chocolate chunks (I used Green and Blacks)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a 9 inch square baking tin with parchment or aluminum foil.  Lightly grease the inside of the lining.
In a double boiler (I use a stainless steel bowl over a simmering pot of just a little water) melt the butter.  Then add the chocolate and let it melt and become smooth.  Remove from heat.
Add in the sugar and vanilla until well combined.
Add in the eggs one at a time, mix well after each addition.
Add the flour and whisk energetically for a full minute (I did a little longer - because I didn't follow the recipe correctly).  The batter will become smooth and glossy and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Press the white chocolate chunks randomly into the top of the batter.
Bake for about 30 minutes (I did about 25 because I really prefer gooey brownies - ie.  slightly undercooked)
Cool before removing from the pan.