Make It Possible

http://makeitpossible.com/

No words are needed for this blog.

No animal products are, either.

(Basil) Salt of the Earth

I read somewhere that the industrial nature of farming means we eat a lot less dirt than we used to.  And that this is a bad thing.  Apparently trace amounts of dirt and soil which used to regularly come with our food  contains lots of minerals which were good for us.  Who knew?  Have you ever heard your older generation acceptingly reassure us that "we'll all eat a bushel of dirt before we die?".

Modern guys turned this into the five second rule.

Once, on a wine tour of all things, I learned that there is a form of regulation which permits a certain amount of insects to be included in wines and juices.  I guess that makes sense - my black widow spider incident convinced me that it is pretty hard to get the critters out of the plants where they live, and it is ESPECIALLY hard to do without damaging insecticides being sprayed on food.  People around the world sometimes consider insects a delicacy - from chocolate coated grasshoppers to ants.  People eat em' on Fear Factor and Survivor too.  They don't hurt you, but it's still kind of gross.

Having said that, I am willing to accept that despite my absolute, vigilant best efforts today, there might very well be a speck or two of dirt and maybe even a spider or two in my latest creations.  I certainly hope not, but I am not afraid of the idea, either.

It is October 27th and my beautiful summer herbs are sprouting their final leaves for the season.  My basil looks tired and cold, my opal basil is withering on the stems and surprisingly my thai basil is holding on the best, sprouting tiny basil flowers which look remarkably like orchids!

My solution to this past-their-prime foliage is to make basil salt.  A sprinkling or two on fresh local tomatoes brings the taste of a fresh caprese salad fast within reach - even without the fresh, tender green basil.

I took the final leaves off my plants, poured some kosher salt into the Magic Bullet and within seconds, I had three beautiful basil salts.  Opal, Thai and Genovese.

Some leaves of mint buzzed up with some sugar has left me with Mint Sugar as well.  Great for tea or fruit.

Time to locate my black widow costume from last year and head off to the two Halloween parties we have been invited to.  Hostess presents will be basil salts:)

Cayenne Kick

Delicious burn.  My lovingly sprouted cayenne pepper plants from the spring have yielded the most luxurious harvests of cayennes in my entire life.  I have been regularly producing batches of cayenne pepper sauce, which is now aging in jars, bottles and containers.

Cayenne pepper sauce has long been a fave of mine, since my University days.  Now, even though the thought of eating a chicken's wing revolts me, I am still very much a fan of "vegetarian wings" and a great homemade hot sauce.

My go-to recipe NEVER yields leftovers.  Here it is:

Karen's Kicked Up Hot Wings Sauce

2-4 tbsp Earth Balance (or you can use butter if that's what you like)

2 tbsp hot sauce

1 tsp smooth dijon mustard

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

a few grinds of fresh black pepper.

The dijon helps emulsify the sauce to become beautiful, clingy and thick.

One of my fantasies is to be able to order vegetarian "wings" at restaurants.  President's Choice makes a great version or "meatless chicken tenders" that sub in perfectly here.  The protein is a vegetable protein with a hearty, rich flavour.  It would be AMAZING if restaurants could just add these to their purchasing so that  people could get them with a cold beer.

The thing I always hated about "wings" - and most people do, vegan or not - is the reminders that what you were eating had both veins and feathers.  I hated that spindly plucky feather coating, even if it was crispy when deep fried.  The drumettes were usually easier to get a mouthful of chicken but the pieces with two bones often revealed a browning vein or two between the "meat".  Vegan wings remove all that discomfort and (almost) all the saturated fat.  No side order of environmental degradation or suffering either.

I believe that the reason veg wings aren't on menus is that they are probably more expensive than traditional wings.  The mark up on chicken's wings is extraordinary.  BUT, if a restaurant's objective is to make money, hopefully the rest of the tab might make up for the loss leader of a plant-based wing?

I have probably jarred about 4 litres of hot sauce using an extremely simple recipe.  Hot peppers (cayennes are my fave), vinegar, garlic and salt.  That, plus a little time.  The aging process is very good to hot sauce.  It mellows it out, reduces the sharpness and heat-forward taste.  It adds to the flavourful balance.

I have actually filled two small ketchup bottles with my homemade hot sauce.  One for my purse, one for my travel bag - for those meals where no hot sauce is available.  

When I think of those gorgeous pepper seeds, sprouting, popping out their first two leaves to now, I am so proud of my little plants' life cycles!  

For my friend...

Have you ever noticed how simple things can be when you strip all the layers away?

While pondering the myriad of events happening lately, I was rushing to create a quick raw dinner for us after a very long weekend.  Some couscous and hot, salted water gave me a base.  I chopped fresh, ripe, seasonal tomatoes into bite size morsels and tore basil leaves into the bowl.  Salted and peppered them, with a squeeze of lemon.  Done.

A perfect, simple, dish - stripped of pretension.  

We had an extremely interesting evening last night over this meal & things came out perfectly. 

Food, like life, can teach us lessons.  At the end of the day, with all the cheffy techniques and layering of flavours, or development of signature styles, what we are really left with is only the good stuff we begin with.

 On my drive home, it got me thinking that sometimes things are just so much simpler than we make them out to be.

A perfect ingredient is made to be perfect.  

It requires no changes - no making it into something it is not already...

organically... 

intrinsically.

How something grows naturally is how it is meant to be enjoyed.

And life and food is just about one thing - enjoyment.

"Hey Mom - want to try this?"

I brought some appetizers home from a reception I held for work yesterday evening for Harrison to snack on.  One of the snacks was a feta stuffed cherry tomato.  He has always hated tomatoes, but has been much more adventurous lately.  He asked innocently "do we have any red onion?" after noshing on several of the selections.  When I answered "no", he said "S'Okay.  I'll use chives."

After I had changed out of my work clothes, he asked me "want to try this?"  Above is a picture of my cutting board, with his re-purposed appetizer.

It was the best bite of the night.

"How do you think up this stuff?"

At dinner with my family yesterday, I showed my aunt my recent (raw) blog posts.  Especially the raw beet and citrus salad.  She looked at me quizzically and said, "How do you think up this stuff?"

She could have meant any number of things, from... "that is too weird for me"   OR  "I like my oatmeal for breakfast, thank you very much"     OR  "hmm - my neice is a creative genius".

Probably somewhere between the first and the second.

But it begs the question - where ideas come from.  I have wanted to teach regular people to cook for some time now - with lessons.  The way a piano teacher teaches music, or a hockey coach runs drills.  People have much more capacity for cooking and feeding themselves than they credit for.  But it does take some mental flexibility...

Instead of "weird", I prefer to consider myself "experimental".

Instead of traditional, I prefer "unconfined by convention".

Instead of genius, I prefer "opportunistic".

This morning's coleslaw is a combination of shredded napa cabbage, segmented grapefruit, macadamia / almond / pecans, and dressed with a puree of agave, grapefruit pulp, grapefruit juice and fresh mint from the garden.  Topped with hemp and chia seeds.

All of these ingredients are not just one big "idea", but many different influences and lessons.

Why breakfast coleslaw?  Because of too much wine watching the New Jersey / LA Game.  I need some detox from both wine and adrenaline!!!!!  AND there was napa cabbage in the fridge - with little else.

I never would have added chia to my salad unless I read a book called "Thrive Diet" by Brendan Brazier, recommended to me by one of my students AND saw Chia seeds in the bulk food section (without the clay pottery!).

I never would have added hemp seeds unless I browsed the natural section of my grocery store with some extra time on my hands AND been influenced by the chefs on "Chopped" who always say that textures add pleasure to food.

And I never would have added fresh mint unless I had some growing in the garden AND saw a chef on some other show add fresh mint to a grapefruit granita.

What I mean is that every dish is so layered with our experiences and influences that the best way to become a better cook is to increase experiences and influences.  To buy things you might not be familiar with and just play.

The expression "to find a prince, sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs" comes to mind.  For everything that I have tried and loved, there have been things that I tried and thought - this is never going in my mouth again - but if I only stuck to what I liked without trying new things?

I would have had my fave treat from when I was 8 for breakfast today!

A mustard sandwich.

Maybe weird is the right word after all !!

:D

Burst of Breakfast

Just got back from a run.  Didn't have as much muscle power as I would have liked - probably because I was running on coffee and zero breakfast.  It should be a grocery day, although I don't know where I'll fit that in.

In any event, I was running hard just to get to my fridge!  The one thing I know I had there were two different kinds of beets - red and orange - and one orange, several grapefruits and some soaked walnuts.  Apparently soaking nuts increases their nutritional availability - and boy did I need it.

Conscripted Bill into my sous-chef for two minutes, and we peeled and grated the beets, I segmented the orange and grapefruit, and blended the middle fibrous leftovers with vanilla coconut milk in the magic bullet.

Tossed the whole vibrant rainbursting contents in a bowl with the dressing.  Needed a bit of sweetness, so reached for some raw agave, and it was just delicious.  Crunchy - sweet - an absolute light show of nutrients.

Even though this soounds weird, I'm sure - it is a must try.  Now I know I have the energy my day is going to demand of me.