Soupe au pois

AKA French Canadian Pea Soup

I LOVE this soup. My "taste tester" loves it too - by the way, he was not a fan of soup when I met him, but I've since converted him! Add a nice chunk of bread and you have a great dinner on a cold rainy Vancouver day. This is traditional, no improving on the real deal.

1 bag of yellow or green split peas, rinsed and picked of any delinquent peas
1 hamhock
1 onion, cut in half
fresh thyme sprigs, go fresh it's worth it here
water or veggie stock

In a large heavy duty saucepan add peas, hamhock and onion. Top with water or stock, the liquid should just cover the hamhock.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Stir well (and every 10-15 minutes) so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan, or it can be nasty. Add whole thyme sprigs and pepper. Simmer the soup for...well, there's no set time here, you just simmer until it gets a bit thick. But mine takes approx 1 hour.

Remove the onion, thyme, and hamhock. Let ham cool a few minutes before removing the meat from the bone and shredding with a fork. Return shredded meat to soup and season accordingly with salt and pepper. The hamhock can be quite salty so wait until the end to add salt or you may regret it. If you find that your soup has gotten toooo thick, simply thin out with a bit of water.

Serve yourself a nice big bowl and send me a thank you email : )

Banana muffins

These have been a regular snack for me in my third trimester. I've even gone as far as to freeze some to have on hand after baby comes.

This is a modified rendition of the Joy of Cooking's Banana Nut Muffins. I make them by hand in one large mixing bowl.


Makes 12 muffins

2-3 ripe bananas
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 flax meal or wheat bran
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.
Mash the banana with a potato masher, add the egg, sugar, butter and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

Add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Do no overmix. Add the walnuts and chocolate chips, stir to distribute in batter.

Line a 12 muffin tin with paper liners. Divide batter evenly into tin, bake for 17-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy with a glass of chocolate milk!

Cretons

Cretons is a french-canadian meat pate, which is only made at Christmas time in my family. If you've never had it, you're in for a real treat! My favourite way to eat it is on a piece of fresh baguette with some dijon or grainy mustard, or on toast with mustard. Nothing else.

My Mom has been making this recipe for ages which is courtesy of Marc Garneau's (the astronaut) grandmother, Rose-Alma. If you make the whole recipe you will have A LOT of cretons. I make a third of the recipe which yields 4x 2-inch ramekins, which is enough for my husband and I over the holidays. You can freeze it, but mine sometimes don't even make it to the freezer!

I caution you that I have never made this without it sticking to the bottom of the pot, but that's no reason to not try it...it's THAT good!

3lbs ground pork
2-3 cups dried breadcrumbs
1 large onion, grated
3 cloves of garlic, chopped (use 2 if you are making a third of the recipe)
1 tsp ground cloves, a must!
3 cups of milk (use 1.5 cups if you are making a third of the recipe)
salt
pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large heavy bottom saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer very gently until thick, about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Spoon into ramekins, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remember the mustard for eating! And send me your feedback if you try it.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

I can't believe I have not yet posted a recipe for a dessert or cookies - I love to bake, so it's shocking! Shocking I say! But, if there's got to be a first, then this is a good one.

These are a Christmas staple for me. I have been making them for years, and for good reason: they are yummy. And everyone who has them thinks so too...as evidenced by how fast they disappear. With a hot cuppa tea, it's a delish treat (or even breakfast as I've been known to do!).

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
2-2/3 cup flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
jam - I prefer raspberry

Cream butter and combine with sugars and egg yolks, blend well. Mix in milk and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients and mix until just blended. It will seem dry at first. Place on a piece of plastic wrap and pull up sides until the mixture comes together, then wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Make a dent in each one with your thumb and fill with jam. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool briefly then remove to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container, placing parchment paper between each layer so they don't stick.

Yummmmmmy.

frenchy spaghetti

This spaghetti dish comes from my childhood. When my Dad was away my Mom would let us have this, not often, but it was a real treat. In my family it was known as "spagatti blanc" but nowadays it's commonly referred to in my house as frenchy spaghetti. It's easy, and dare I say quite tasty for a rainy day quick meal.

Combine:
cooked spaghetti
butter
beef Bovril, powedered not liquid

The amount of butter and bovril is a matter of taste, I like it buttery, my husband not so much. So play around and see what you think...

the Mike special

Mike is GREAT at making anything breakfast having to do with eggs. And we often eat his concoctions for dinner too. A while back he made a warm spinach salad from one of Tyler Florence's cookbooks, which we both loved, and has since evolved into his own interpretation as an eggs benny.

I hope to keep tasting different varations of this recipe, but this plating had to be captured and shared...

1 shallot, minced
2 garlic clove, minced
handful of mushrooms, chopped
1 bunch kale, stems removed
multigrain bread, sliced
eggs
serve with bacon

Place bacon slices on baking rack over sheet pan in 400F oven until crisp. Rinse kale and set aside.

Mince shallot and garlic and chop mushrooms. Fry in 1 tsp of olive oil until mushrooms are browned. Add kale and cook until kale is softened.

Meanwhile bring a pot of water to a simmer, add a tsp of red wine vinegar and poach eggs.

Serve toasted homestyle multigrain bread, topped with mushroom mixture and one egg. Bacon on the side. Eat right away so egg can run all over everything....yummy....

Chucumber

My taste buds are back baby! Second trimester has brought back the desire for colourful foods - salads and fruit - and the desire to get back into the kitchen and cook with loads of flavour.

Last Christmas I bought a cookbook mostly for the pics - which is not uncommon for me. But this one turned out to be a gem, and was one in the Journey for Food Lovers series. It's "The Food of India" with lovely, well captured pictures and tasty recipes. As with all indian cooking, there is often a long list of ingredients which can be intimidating. What I noticed as I drooled while flipping through the book, was that many recipes used similar ingredients but in different proportions or different preparations. So I decided to give it a go and stocked up on a few key spices, namely turmeric, curry leaves, cardamom pods, coridander and cumin seeds. Garam masala is a good option to have on hand and one that I have been using for a while now, but there are many masalas to choose from depending on your recipe (see below).

Chucumber is a refreshingly tangy, spicy, crunchy dish. Great served as a side dish or with chapati for a snack. The key to this dish is to chop all the ingredients into a small consistent dice, which allows you to get a bit of everything in every bite. This is my version:

1 small red onion
1 english cucumber (or 2 field cucumbers, deseeded)
1 tomato
1 pepper
1 red chile
1 green chile
fresh lemon juice
handful of cilantro leaves
handful of unroastedd, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1-1/2 tsp chaat masala

Chop the onion, cucumber, tomato, pepper, red and green chiles and combine in a bowl. Squeeze in the juice of one lemon. Coarsely chop the cilantro leaves and add to the mixture. Set aside.

In a small skillet, heat 1 tbsp of canola oil (use a neutral veg oil here, olive oil would be too strong). Add the peanuts and salt, fry for 1-2 minutes, until you can start to smell the peanuts. Keep an eye on them though, nuts tend to burn quickly. Add the pepper and chaat masala and fry for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Once the peanut mixture has cooled, add to the veggie mix - if you do this too early the veggies will realease a lot of liquid due to the heat and salt.

Serve with thin chapati and ice cold beer. Perfect for an afternoon snack on the deck.


Masala

Masala is known as a warming mixture of various spices, usually one or all of the following - cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom. The outcome depends on the proportions. There are sweeter masalas and spicier ones. If you are buying masala for this recipe look for one labelled "chaat" or ask for a spicier version than garam masala, which tends to have a higer cinnamon note.

Traditional chaat masala uses amchoor powder which imparts a lovely sour note. I didn't have chaat masala or amchoor powder in my cupboard, so I improvised...you can try your own version and adjust as you like.

1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of salt
2 dried chillies
6 peppercorns
1 cardamom pod

Toast the coriander and cumin seeds in a small heavy skillet. Place in a mortar and pestle or small spice grinder. Add the salt, dried chillies, peppercorns and cardamom pod. Crush together until you get a coarse mix. *If you want to make this into a paste and add that sour note, squeeze in the juice of one lime.*