Chipotle Hash & Spinach Salad

A fast home meal can be elevated above the ordinary by choosing a few interesting products to bring in the exotic without the effort. There are so many to choose from in today's upscale groceries. Finding myself downtown this afternoon, I strolled through the new Urban Fare at the base of the Shangri-La, Vancouver's tallest building. I picked up a White Stilton with Apple & Pear, and a single, beautiful, fat mushroom. I used these ingredients to bring some extra taste into tonight's quick & easy dinner.

The mushroom, I found out, is called Eryngii and is otherwise known as King Trumpet, King Oyster or French Horn. It was so nice and thick I decided to slice it and grill it on the panini grill.

To top the salad we tried out Fresh Gourmet's Crispy Onion Croutons for the first time. They are wonderful. To be sure, using prepared ingredients like this is cheating, but it's a nice compromise to bring complex tastes to easy dishes, and can still be healthy when paired with fresh, organic vegetables such as the spinach, peas and potatoes below.

The heat in the hash comes from a very specific ingredient, the smoked chipotle garlic salt from Oddball Organics, purchased at Granville Island. Without that, it could just be called a 'beef' and pea hash.

Chipotle 'Beef' & Pea Hash on Potato Mash

• Yves orginial veggie ground (1 pkg)
• Fresh or frozen peas (1-2 cups)
• Yellow onion (1 large, diced)
• Celery (1 cup, diced)
• Olive Oil (2 tbspns)
• Simply Organic mushroom gravy mix (1 pkg)
• Yellow potatoes(4 medium, boiled)
• Butter (1/4 cup)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Grilled Eryngii & Spinach Salad with Apple-Pear Stilton

• Eryngii mushroom (large, into 1/4" slices)
• White Stilton with Apple & Pear (2 ounces, crumbled)
• Raspberry vinaigrette dressing (to taste)
• Fresh Gourmet crispy onion croutons(1 tbspn)
• Fresh radish (1, sliced)
  
• Olive Oil (1 tbspn)

Mash boiled potatoes with butter to a relatively dry consistency. Saute the onions, peas, celery, salt and pepper until tender. Add veggie ground and saute for two minutes. Prepare gravy as directed on package. Brush sliced mushroom with olive oil and season to taste. Place on grill to desired doneness but do not overcook. Assemble salad on a plate and top with the grilled mushrooms. Plate the mashed potatoes and ground hash and top with gravy.

This meal was ready in less than 30 minutes and could have been made with just about anything at hand.

Cheers!

Tony's Easy Slow-Cooker Chili

This is a lazy chili. Prep time is about 15 minutes! This chili is vegetarian, but to make vegan, I believe you'd just have to eliminate the cheese and sour cream when serving.

I vary the vegetables each time by what I have on hand. Bell peppers and kernel corn make good additions. Add chili spice for more heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. I use the organic brands of canned beans, undrained, as they contain no salt or other ingredients. If you use other brands be sure to drain and add more vegetable broth accordingly.

If time permits, build more flavour by sauteing the garlic and onions on the stove top for a few minutes in a tablespoon of EVOO, adding the celery and carrots for another 7 minutes. Also, you can roast any root vegetables before adding to the slow-cooker. Toss them in some EVOO and your favorite spices and roast at 400F for 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Organic Garlic, crushed or minced
4 stalks Organic Celery, finely diced
4 large Organic Carrots, bias sliced
2 large Organic Onions, diced
2 cups of your favourite root vegetable, cubed (Parsnip, Sweet Potato...)

1 can Eden Organic Whole Roma Tomatoes
2 cans Earth Pure Organic Tomato Sauce
3 cans Eden Organic Kidney Bean
1 can Eden Organic Pinto Beans
1 can Eden Organic Navy Beans
1 can Eden Organic Aduki Beans
1 can Eden Organic Black Beans
2 cups Pacific Organic Vegetable Broth

1 package Simply Organic Vegetarian Chili Seasoning
2 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Mushroom Sauce
2 tablespoons Kikoman Organic Soya Sauce
1 tablespoon Oddball Organic Garlic Nectar
1 teaspoon Tobasco Sauce
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 tablespoon Smoked Spanish Paprika

2 packages Yves Veggie Ground, Original

Directions:
Wash and prepare vegetables. Combine all but last ingredient in slow-cooker and set on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally. Add veggie ground in last 20 minutes of cooking time.

Serving Suggestion:
Cut a thick slice of healthy bread.
Drizzle garlic-infused EVOO over bread.
Serve chili into oven-proof bowls.
Place bowls and bread on cookie sheet under broiler.
Remove when toasty and drizzle with a balsalmic reduction.
Garnish chili with a dollop of sour cream.
Add a sprinkle of green onions and diced tomatoes, and a drizzle of EVOO.
Serve.

Roasted Cauliflower & Potato Chowder

Roasted Cauliflower and Potato Chowder is a winter warmer. This one was ready in an hour. The technique of thickening the soup by mashing the potatoes against the side of the pot was a new one for me, from here, and worked great! In this way you can keep adjusting the texture of the soup in small increments.

1) Roast two heads of seasoned, oiled cauliflower florets in a 400F oven for 30 minutes or until moderately browned on one side.

2) Saute 2 cups mirepoix, 1 diced bell pepper and 2 TBSP garlic in an EVOO and butter mixture in a heavy 6 quart stock pot. Add 6 cups vegetable stock, 4 medium potatoes cut into large pieces, bouquet garni and bring to a slow boil for 30 minutes.

3) Remove the bouquet garni.

4) When potatoes are ready, mash several pieces against the side of the pot to thicken the liquid. Add roasted cauliflower, 1.5 cups of canned or fresh kernel corn, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes.



5) Mix in 1 cup of creme fraiche, stirring gently until dissolved. Serve with a dollop of cream and a garnish of spring onion or parsley.

Substitute vegan ingredients for cream (soy milk) and butter (veggie butter) if desired. Add garlic cloves to the roasting cauliflower for more bite, or replace the bell pepper with something more adventurous.

Honestly, after tasting roasted cauliflower I don't know why anyone would boil it ever again!

Cheers!

Hail, Feta!

Summer is here, even if the weather is not really cooperating. And we've been eating a lot of Caesar salads to get in the mood. I make a quick dressing from scratch; it's much more satisfying than something from a bottle, and you can vary the taste from something mild and creamy to something a little more tangy.

I've found the Williams-Sonoma cookbooks to be wonderful resources for classic and basic recipes. The 'Salad' book includes a basic Caesar dressing recipe:

Crush 3 peeled cloves of garlic in the bottom of a bowl with a half teaspoon of salt. Crush 4 anchovy fillets and whisk in 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar and one half teaspoon freshly ground pepper. While whisking, drizzle in one third cup of olive oil.

I either skip the anchovy altogether, or use anchovy paste. Yes, I do keep some in the fridge for when I'm feeling particularly adventurous! For a classic Caesar one must use only the freshest romaine leaves and very gently roll the dressing along with a raw egg over the leaves and scatter some Parmesan shavings about.

But for a variation from the classic, and to make it more of an everyday dressing, I whisk in a little mayonnaise to turn it into a creamy dressing. Instead of Parmesan it's sometimes nice to put a whole block of feta on top.

Today's salad was far from a classic Caesar; it was more of a Greco-Roman hybrid. The cheese is a sun-dried tomato feta from Vancouver Island. The placement of the feta as you see it in the photo, as a solid brick on top of the salad, was the way we got used to our Greek salads on our trip there a few years ago.

By the way, I tried making croutons with fresh bread, thinking fresh must be better, right? But they did not turn out near as good as some I made last week from slightly stale bread. Is it true that bread has to be a little on the stale side to make good croutons? Or did I just mess them up this time?

Cheers!

Potato Mushroom Phyllos & Mango Salad

German Butter Potatoes are wonderful! They are uber-yellow potatoes, if you will. Sometimes called "butterball," they are so named because of their rich, buttery flavour. So flavourful, in fact, you don't even need to add butter. (But we will!) A very yellow flesh and medium starch potato, this heirloom tuber is usually available in the organics section of Choices. They are grown locally; I have read that Pemberton is an important centre for seed potatoes, including the German Butter Potato.

Taking inspiration from Jamie this time, we watched an episode of Jamie at Home all about asparagus. We didn't have any asparagus but loved the idea of a phyllo tart, and adapted the concept to a phyllo pie with potato, cheese and mushroom as the central ingredients. Here is the original Asparagus and Potato Tart recipe. I made 8 large single serving pies with this recipe.

phyllo pies:

• 500g German butter potato, peeled and quartered
• 250button or oyster mushroom, thoroughly cleaned and coarsely chopped
• 2 medium onion, finely diced
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 125ml green peas
• 100g carrots, peeled
• 8 stalks spring onion
• garlic, finely chopped
• flat-leaf parsley
• 3 whole free range eggs
• asiago, gouda, grana padano cheeses, grated
• 125ml sour cream
• 300g butter
• phyllo sheets

mango salad:

• ripe mango
• feta cheese, crumbled
• seedless grapes
• baby mesclun mixed greens
• olive oil
• raspberry balsamic glaze

Pre-heat oven to 400F. Add peeled, quartered potatoes to boiling salted water and boil until tender, about 15 minutes. Score tomatoes with an "X" and place gently in pot of simmering, salted water until skin begins to peel. Remove tomatoes. Add carrots to tomato water and gently boil until barely tender. Add 100g butter to cast iron skillet on medium heat. When melted add garlic, onion, peas, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute gently until soft but not brown, approximately 20 minutes.

Drain potatoes, add 100g butter, sour cream, dash of garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Mash coarsely. Set aside to cool slightly. Add eggs, whipping with fork in circular motion to create a light, airy mash. Drain carrots and dice. Peel, section and remove seeds and pulp from tomatoes, cut into slivers.

Melt remaining 100g butter. Lay out a sheet of phyllo on a clean surface and brush with butter. Lay another sheet on top. Layer fillings of potato, mushroom mix, carrots, tomatoes and cheese. Top with two stalks of spring onion. Gently roll/fold phyllo over top of filling and continue to wrap, tucking folded ends underneath. Place on buttered cookie sheet. Fill remaining phyllos and arrange on sheet, not touching.

Brush butter on all exposed surfaces of phyllos and place cookie sheet in oven on lowest rack. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Using a convection feature produces better results and halves cooking time.

Thoroughly wash all produce. Halve grapes. Peel ripe mango and roughly tear and shred with fingers. Arrange bed of mesclun greens on plate and place small handful of mango in centre. Circle mango with grapes and feta. Drizzle with olive oil and raspberry balsamic reduction. Place phyllo pie beside salad. Brush with remaining butter and garnish with spring onion and flat-leaf parsley.

Cheers!