Coconut Curry Lentil Soup

With a bestie, a daughter and a granddaughter vegetarian and the other daughter vegan, I am making a lot more plant-based food lately. While I am a deeply committed and unapologetic  carniviore, I respect their choices and love to cook for my people.

I've been making one version or another of this for decades. Not because it's a meatless meal but because I love it and it's simple, hearty and delicious.

It's also highly adaptable.

No carrots?

Skip the carrots.

No canned tomatoes?

Skip the tomatoes.

No lentils?

Just kidding...but you get where I'm going with this.

I like it best with a full complement of ingredients but pretty much any combination of the mains will make a delicious soup.

As you would expect, fresh ginger, garlic and coriander will give you the best result but you can substitute with dried, in a pinch.

One thing I highly advise you use is a really good curry powder. It will make this soup.

I use a half-and-half combination of sweet yellow curry and deep, dark Madras curry. Both are available online or in-store at the Silk Road Spice Merchant in Edmonton or you can visit a Southeast Asian market and find a curry powder with a profile that suits your palate.

Serve with warm naan bread or fresh flatbread.

Ingredients

2 Tbsps Coconut oil (or any vegetable oil, I just like the extra flavour the coconut oil provides)
1.5 to 2 cups dried red lentils (rinsed)
1 litre vegetable broth (or chicken broth if you aren't picky about the meatless thing)
1 large can stewed tomatoes
1 can full-fat coconut milk
1 medium white onion chopped
2 or 3 Tbsps fresh, minced ginger
3 or 4 cloves fresh, minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
2 medium carrots, chopped into rounds
1 tsp sweet yellow curry
1 tsp Madras curry
A dollop of fresh or sour cream (for the non-vegans)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Heat a large stock pot.
Add coconut oil, onion, garlic and ginger.
Sauté until translucent.
Add carrot rounds and curry powder and sauté for a few more minutes until curry is incorporated and fragrant.
Add canned tomatoes, stock and lentils.
Simmer for 20-30 minutes until carrots are tender and lentils are soft but not mushy.
Add coconut milk and simmer for five more minutes.
Add fresh coriander and cream (if desired) and serve.

This soup freezes and reheats really well. I almost always have some of this on hand for veggie visitors. :-)

Moroccan Stew

I'll concede that autumn is pretty...the leaves have turned and the river valley is a postcard. Still, I can't help but wish the season would last until next May.  We're having a fabulously warm October but in spite of the warm weather, I know what's coming...

Keith moved the snowblower into the garage the other day and wrapped up the cushions from the patio furniture and stowed them away. The snow shovels have been moved up front and the spade has made it's way to the back of the stack of yard tools. 

The fall weather doesn't fool my appetite, either. I am craving rich, hearty comfort food. I've been filling the freezer with stick-to-your-ribs soups and stews and I shopped today for the kind of ingredients I haven't even looked at for 6 months. Sweet potato, coriander, curry. The kind of food you heat up on a frosty day and it warms you to your toes.

Moroccan Stew

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

2 cups carrot rounds

1 cup chopped celery 

4 cloves minced garlic

4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup peeled and chopped sweet potatoes
1 cup of cauliflower florets

1 can (19 oz) diced tomatoes (drained)

1 lb lean ground beef or lamb 
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ginger
2 tsps curry powder
1 tsp each:  corainder, chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup raisins
3 heaping tbsp peanut butter

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium high heat. Add onions , celery, hard vegetables and garlic. 
Cook and stir until they begin to soften.

Add all remaining ingredients, except raisins and peanut butter. 

Bring to a boil. Reduce to low and simmer, covered for 30-40 minutes.

Stir in raisins and peanut butter. Simmer for 5 more minutes.

Sweet Potato Poutine

My friend Laurie is one of the true originals. She’s one of the few authentically quirky people I know and she always, always makes me see things from an unexpected angle. She has an infectious, un-selfconsciously LOUD laugh that comes from somewhere deep inside and when I’m with her, I hear it often. Even on the bad days.

Laurie and I love to make plans together and cancel them with no hard feelings. We do this because we genuinely WANT to get together and it feels like a great idea on Tuesday to go for a post-work nosh on Friday night…but by the time Friday rolls around, we’re both too tired to go anywhere…so one of us usually cancels.

We do, however, get together with increasing regularity to wander through the Strathcona Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings and we usually grab a bite to eat somewhere afterward… where I often put something through my nose due to a spontaneous burst of hilarity.

Laurie is a foodie. From the tip of her unruly mop of curls to the toes of her hippie boots, she LOVES food. She actually skips in to the Farmer’s Market because she is truly delighted to be in the presence of abundant, locally produced, foodstuff.

Last Saturday, she convinced me to sample Sylvan Star Cheese. Apparently, I’m the last person in Edmonton to learn about the award-winning Alberta cheeses. She highly recommended the smoked gouda and the cheese curds, so…I bought both.

And now I have cheese curds…so ….poutine, it is.  A true Canadian classic – adapted. You can buy almost everything you need to make this at the Strathcona Farmer’s Market (except for the spices and milk…but the milk at the supermarket is locally produced, so you can call it Alberta food without feeling too guilty.)

Necessary Stuff

3 large sweet potatoes

1 medium red onion

2 cups homemade beef gravy

Sylvan Star cheese curds
1 cup finely grated old cheddar

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp smoked salt

1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
Pepper to taste

Enough milk to soak the fries

Canola Oil

Slice the sweet potato into fries (whatever thickness you prefer) and soak them in milk. Finely slice the red onion and heat the beef gravy to a gentle boil. Combine dry ingredients in a plastic bag and shake to mix.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees, put fries in the plastic bag and shake to coat. Drop them one by one into the hot oil. Fry until crispy and place on a paper towel to drain.

In an oven-proof bowl, add a layer of fries, a layer of cheese curds and a few onions. Add another layer of fries, curds and onions. Sprinkle grated cheddar and more red onion on top and broil until cheese is bubbly. Pour hot gravy over fries and serve at once. With beer. 

Credit where credit is due…I put this recipe together in an effort to re-create one of my Edmonton restaurant faves.  Da-De-O on Whyte Avenue serves the best version of this I have ever eaten. Ever.  If you're looking for some satisfying soul food in Old Strathcona, I highly recommend you stop in and try some. It’s just that I can’t seem to get myself out often enough to satisfy my poutine addiction, so I had to learn to make this at home...

New York Cheesecake

You really can spend your whole life getting to know someone. Keith has been on my radar for longer than I care to admit and for the most part, I think I have him pegged. I know his routines, his habits (good and bad) and his sore spots. I know how to avoid a fight, even when I'm picking one.  That said...every once in a while, he surprises me.

His reaction to this cheesecake was a complete and total surprise. 

In the time we have been together, I have never made a cheesecake. This is because before a week ago, I can't recall Keith ever mentioning that he absolutely LOVES cheessecake. 

It all started like this: We were engaging in our usual weeknight activity of late...that is to say, watching pvr'd television. A food show segment featuring New York Cheesecake, to be exact. Keith started bemoaning the fact that there is NOWHERE to get authentic New York cheesecake in our neck of the woods - so I half-heartedly offered to make him one. He seemed pretty dubious that I would be able to do it...so suddenly, finding the perfect recipe became my mission.

After combing through recipes and watching videos for a week, combining elements from a few promising recipes, I came up with this and decided to give it a shot.

Keith LOVES this cake.

I mean...LOVES it. 

Even more than cinnamon buns. Seriously, who knew?

New York Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Graham Cracker Crust

2 cups (200 grams) of graham cracker crumbs 

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 cup (114 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Combine the cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press the mixture evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan. Place in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Filling

4 (8 ounce) packages of softened, full-fat cream cheese

1 2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

zest of one lemon and 1/2 an orange

2 large eggs (room temperature)

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream 

On low speed, blend together the cream cheese, cornstarch and sugar (one package of cheese at a time) until smooth. Increase speed to med-high and add vanilla and zest. Add eggs, one at a time and blend well. Turn the mixer back down to low (Do not over-mix at this point, it's more about blending.) Spoon filling into graham crust and place the pan in a baking sheet with about 1/2 an inch of water in it. Bake on middle rack for 55-60 minutes. Cake is ready when the outer edges are firm but the middle is still soft and a bit jiggly. Remove from heat and cool on a wire rack for an hour. Then cover with plastic and refrigerate until well-cooled. (Over-night is best.) Remove from springform pan and plate.

It's not often I make something and firm up a recipe on my first try. Usually, I have to modify and tweak at least a few versions before I'm happy. This is one recipe I am not changing. Not one bit. It's creamy and smooth and not too sweet with a pretty heavy hit of citrus. Victory is mine.

Soda Crackers...for the naysayers.

I had the most terrifically slothful day yesterday. Didn't even get out of my pyjamas. I slept late and spent the remainder of the morning, the whole afternoon and well into the evening just reading and writing and trying to figure out how to add printable recipe pages to this blog.

It was great. I highly recommend the occasional day embracing the fourth deadly sin.

I updated my facebook status somewhere around supper time, lamenting all the things I didn't do - including making home-made soda crackers, as was my original intention...and I had more than one person respond in disbelief..."Do people actually MAKE soda crackers?"

Sure they do. When they're not laying on the couch, that is.

Somewhere around 8:00 p.m. I got a little restless and decided to make some cracker dough...seemed like a small enough commitment because the dough has to be refrigerated over night. (I'll have you know that I also made a pot of chicken vegetable soup with some stock I had ready to go.)

It's now morning...and here I am again...making a substantial dent in my favourite couch, but only for long enough to get a little preamble on this page because my dough is ready to go.

This is not my recipe. I borrowed it from the Food Network - but it's not really theirs, either. They modified the traditional King Arthur Flour recipe and just omitted the Cream of Tartar. Since I have no COT at the moment, I'm going to give this one a try.

Soda Crackers

2 tsp active dry yeast (10 ml)
2/3 cup warm water (160 ml)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour ( 375 ml)
1/2 tsp salt (2 ml)
1/2 tsp baking soda (2 ml)
2 tbsp melter butter (30 ml)
coarse or flake salt

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let stand for five minutes. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and melted butter and mix. Form a soft ball and knead on a floured surface for five minutes or in your mixer with the hook attachment until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add a few drops of water or a sprinkle of flour if you need to. Place dough in a buttered bowl and coat all sides. Then cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge over night or up to 18 hours. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove the dough and form a small rectangle and then roll out on a lightly floured surface until dough is no thicker than 1/8 of an inch thick. Fold the rectangle in thirds (like a letter) and roll again. With a pizza cutter, cut the dough into small squares (or whatever shapes you like) and sprinkle with coarse salt or any other toppings that suit your fancy.

 Prick the crackers with a fork or toothpick a few times and lightly roll the salt into the dough. Place close together on a lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

This photo is also to prove to Candice and Ramona that people DO TOO make soda crackers. (When they have no life.)











Place on wire racks until the crackers are completely cool and store in an airtight container or serve right away. Benefits to making your own crackers? They seriously have a great "saltine" flavour and crunch. Not to mention, they contain NO BHA or other ingredients I can't pronounce.

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Porkapalooza Pea Soup

It's a stay-inside Friday night and I have nothing (really) to do. Keith cleaned the house from top to bottom this week, up to and including washing floors, towels and linens. (If I didn't know better I would think Aliens abducted my ACTUAL husband.) I was supposed to go out after work with a friend but she had the same motivation as I did at the end of a long week. Home now, in my jammies with a fishbowl of my most favourite wine, I mustered up a little energy and decided to use the ham bone that has been vaccum-packed in my freezer since Thanksgiving...if for nothing else than to create a little room there.

All my vegetarian friends should probably just stop reading here - because this is a soup that is offensively full of meat...with some peas thrown in for good measure.

Keith loves thick, hearty, meaty soups..so this was conjured up especially for him. Even the stock is over the top...with twice the amount of everything I would normally use.

Double-stock

In a large soup pot, add:

2 litres of chicken stock
2 litres of water
2 large yellow onions, chopped into chunks
2 large carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped with leaves from the whole bunch
4 stalks of fresh thyme
4 bay leaves
leftover smoked ham with meat on the bone
salt and black pepper to taste

Bring everything to a rolling boil, reduce heat and simmer for two hours.

When stock is done, strain and transfer liquid into another large pot.  Remove the meat from the ham bone, chop into bite-sized chunks and add to the stock.

In a large frying pan, brown 1/4 lb smoked bacon (slab bacon works best), cut into cubes and 1 double-smoked sausage, cut into thick slices.  Drain well and add to stock along with 500 grams of green split peas and a grated carrot and simmer for at least an hour or until peas are thoroughly cooked.

*A word of caution - this soup can be seriously salty with all the cured meat - if necessary, dilute to taste and simmer a bit longer. (Or use sodium reduced chicken stock, or even just 4 litres of water for the broth.) My friend Karen suggested putting a potato in the soup as it is cooking to absorb the salt - I think my mom used to do that...sounds like a perfect solution.

Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs and serve it on it's own... anything else might be over-kill.   ;-)

Mom's Ginger Sparklers (AKA Rock Cookies)

Someone told me years ago that in Egypt, they have a saying. "A soul will live forever if you speak their name each day." If this is true, poor ol' Mom isn't getting much rest. Not that she ever did...

These cookies were, without question, her absolute favourites. I can't see a ginger snap cookie without thinking of her. She loved to eat something sweet with her tea and often baked huge batches of these to keep on hand. Ginger cookies weren't necessarily MY favourites or my brothers, for that matter, so they would last for months. She kept them in a big tupperware container until they were so hard, they HAD to be dipped in tea to eat. I should mention that at this point, they also made impressive projectiles. They would leave dents in the walls and wouldn't crumble on impact. (They hurt like hell when you got hit with them, too.) My brother and I fondly dubbed them "Rock Cookies" and tested their strength in numerous creative, if ill-mannered ways.

 I sometimes bake these cookies for no other reason than to feel close to my Mom. I can picture her sitting contentedly at the kitchen table in her housecoat, with a steaming cup of tea and two or three "Ginger Sparklers" stacked beside her teacup. The recipe card has little dough splatters on it and the ink is beginning to fade but  the smell of them baking evokes memories that are oblivious to time.                        

Ginger Sparklers
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 eg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
Granulated sugar


Pre-heat oven to 350 (It once read 375 but it's been scratched out on the card...probably in an effort to make them softer.)

Cream butter and brown sugar - molasses and egg until light and fluffy - measure flour, soda, salt and spices - blend - stir into creamed mixture until blended - shape into small balls - roll in sugar - place 2" apart on a greased baking sheet - bake 8-10 minutes.

Store in an air-tight container for weeks...months...
years...hell, these cookies might even survive a nuclear holocast...(Love you Mom.)