Lonely girl dinner: watermelon radish & tomato salad, & homemade mushroom & olive pizza
Panettone Bread Pudding
On the last day of work before the holiday break, my Dean surprised me with an unexpected present. Along with a huge box of Baci, and a sparkling Italian white wine, he gifted me a panettone with raisins and candied orange peel. I adore panettone, and was really excited to bring this to Montréal to share with my guests during my Xmas Eve dinner gathering.
Imagine my surprise when I got to Montréal that Mark said he does not like panettone. He explained to me that as a German he does not consider panettone “real cake” and he finds it too dry. After making some inquiries on Facebook, one friend from library school brilliantly suggested I make bread pudding with it in place of regular bread. I did, and it was a huge hit with everyone at the dinner party. We had some left over, and discovered it makes an excellent breakfast as well.
Ingredients
1 pound panettone with raisins and candied orange peel, cut into cubes
3 cups milk
5 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place panettone cubes into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and the vanilla. Pour the mixture over the bread and stir gently until the bread is coated. At first, the bread may float on the milk mixture, but after a few minutes it will begin to absorb it and sink. Let rest for 15 minutes or so and then pour it into a 9-inch square lightly buttered ovenproof casserole dish. Bake until the eggs set, the pudding firms and the top is golden brown, about 1 hour. I served the bread pudding with cranberry glaze left over from the sugared cranberries I made, but it is just as good on its own.
1 pound panettone with raisins and candied orange peel, cut into cubes
3 cups milk
5 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place panettone cubes into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and the vanilla. Pour the mixture over the bread and stir gently until the bread is coated. At first, the bread may float on the milk mixture, but after a few minutes it will begin to absorb it and sink. Let rest for 15 minutes or so and then pour it into a 9-inch square lightly buttered ovenproof casserole dish. Bake until the eggs set, the pudding firms and the top is golden brown, about 1 hour. I served the bread pudding with cranberry glaze left over from the sugared cranberries I made, but it is just as good on its own.
Long Absences
It’s been a long time since I last posted. The school year really got away from me, and sadly this blog was the first thing I abandoned in favour of other hobbies such as knitting and sleeping. I’m in Montréal right now for the winter holidays. Somehow I convinced Mark to do a vegetarian Xmas meal with me yesterday, and I wanted to share with you all the recipe for the delicious savoury tart I made. It’s a butternut squash tart with sharp cheddar, red onion and sage.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Tart Shell
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup ice water
milk for brushing the assembled tart with Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium-large bowl. Using a pastry blender incorporate the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal (you should still have some rather large bits of butter when you’re done). Slowly drizzle in the ice water. Stir with a large spoon, or your hands, until the dough begins to clump. Transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and, using your hands, fold it into itself until all of the flour is incorporated into the fats. The dough should come together easily but should not feel overly sticky. Divide the dough in half, shape it into two balls, and pat each ball into a ½-inch thick disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. You’ll only be using one of these dough disks for the pie. I recommend freezing the unused portion for another tart, even a sweet one! Remove the chilled pie dough from the refrigerator and roll it out into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer the dough to a large un-rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate while you prepare the filling. Tart Filling
5 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 medium-size red onion, chopped
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
¼ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Using a large spoon, toss until well mixed and the squash cubes and onion are well coated with the olive oil and sage. Assembling the Tart Mound the squash mixture in the middle of the chilled pastry circle. Gently spread the mixture out toward the edge of the pastry, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Fold the pastry border up over the filling, overlapping the edges and pressing the folds together every few inches. Then use a pastry brush to brush the milk all over the folded edges of the crust. I like using almond milk, but Mark has a nut allergy, so I used regular organic cow milk. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until the crust is golden brown and the squash cubes are tender when pierced with a fork. Cool the tart at least 30 minutes before serving. This recipe makes about eight servings.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup ice water
milk for brushing the assembled tart with Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium-large bowl. Using a pastry blender incorporate the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal (you should still have some rather large bits of butter when you’re done). Slowly drizzle in the ice water. Stir with a large spoon, or your hands, until the dough begins to clump. Transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and, using your hands, fold it into itself until all of the flour is incorporated into the fats. The dough should come together easily but should not feel overly sticky. Divide the dough in half, shape it into two balls, and pat each ball into a ½-inch thick disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. You’ll only be using one of these dough disks for the pie. I recommend freezing the unused portion for another tart, even a sweet one! Remove the chilled pie dough from the refrigerator and roll it out into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer the dough to a large un-rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate while you prepare the filling. Tart Filling
5 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 medium-size red onion, chopped
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
¼ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Using a large spoon, toss until well mixed and the squash cubes and onion are well coated with the olive oil and sage. Assembling the Tart Mound the squash mixture in the middle of the chilled pastry circle. Gently spread the mixture out toward the edge of the pastry, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Fold the pastry border up over the filling, overlapping the edges and pressing the folds together every few inches. Then use a pastry brush to brush the milk all over the folded edges of the crust. I like using almond milk, but Mark has a nut allergy, so I used regular organic cow milk. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until the crust is golden brown and the squash cubes are tender when pierced with a fork. Cool the tart at least 30 minutes before serving. This recipe makes about eight servings.
Chicken Pot Pie: The Second Act (Taken with Instagram at Point St. Charles)
Brunch at the Edge of Summer
Mark made it very difficult for me for to leave Montréal today. I woke up to blueberry and buttermilk pancakes and maple smoked tempeh bacon this morning, my last day in the city this long Labour Day weekend. Tomorrow, though quite a bit away from the official start of autumn, does already feel like the end of summer since it is the first day of Frosh Week at universities in Ontario, where all the first year students start exploring campuses and making their first forays into their new lives as academics and young independent adults.
Though I terribly miss the carefree days of summer, I’m already looking forward to making warming stews, apple and pumpkin pies, hot chocolate, roasted squash, and those wonderful heartier food stuffs that the autumn bounty brings. Of course running through parks full of the changing leaves while wearing handmade knits, and teaching again are also why ultimately fall is my favorite time of year.
What makes you excited about autumn?
Beautiful, vegetarian lunch: curried squash pie and Tuscan salad (Taken with Instagram at Wanda’s Pie in the Sky).
Going to Wanda’s for lunch the next day after getting back from Montréal is apparently becoming a tradition for me. I get in so late the night before I, a) typically sleep in a little later than I am supposed in the morning leaving me no time to prepare a packed lunch, or b) more often than not, have next to nothing in the fridge to make said lunch. As you can see from the photo above, I’m not suffering at all.
Late Summer Feasts
I finally made one of Mark Bittmans’s cold summer soups that I posted about last month on the blog. On the bike ride home today I stopped by the Riverdale Farmers’ Market, and picked up all the ingredients for watermelon gazpacho. It was quite a challenge bringing a watermelon home on my bike, even though it was the smallest one the farmer I bought it from had!
I adapted the original recipe a bit, since the tomato and watermelon ingredients where stated in pounds, and I do not have a scale here in Toronto. As well, the original recipe does not call for salt. I find salt brightens all gazpacho soups.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chopped, ripe and fresh heirloom tomatoes
- 3 cups seeded and cubed watermelon
- fresh mint leaves
- 1 diced yellow cucumber (a heirloom variety you can get at a farmers’ market)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Greek goat feta
- salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
Combine tomatoes with watermelon, cucumber (don’t bother peeling it if you are using a yellow cucumber), a handful of mint leaves, olive oil and salt in a food processor. Process until chunky-smooth. Add lemon juice. Garnish your soup with crumbled feta and chopped mint.
I served this with a big slice of Mark Bittman’s no-knead fermented bread I made, slathered with pesto and warmed in the oven, and a glass of white wine.
Always Reading
To interrupt our regularly scheduled food blogging, Mark and I are making sandwiches for lunch, and listening to Revolver by The Beatles. This got me thinking about my hero, and ur-boy, John Lennon. While right now I’m reading though the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (I’m halfway through the third book, A Storm of Swords, and suffice to say, winter has not come yet!), I think I’m going to take a break to switch gears and instead read the national bestseller, John Lennon: The Life by Phillip Norman. I also have a copy of the autobiography Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith (lead singer of the seminal British post-punk band The Fall) that I have been meaning to read for a long time, but I don’t know if right now I can mentally deal with submersing myself in Mark E. Smith’s tragic life, that unlike John Lennon’s doesn’t seem to have much light, or joy to it.
I just placed a hold on a copy of John Lennon: The Life from the Toronto Public Library to have delivered to the branch near my work. Does anyone else want to join me reading this book? TPL has 7 available copies left in their system.
Nouveau Mediterranean
Growing up in an immigrant Greek household, fava beans and stuffed peppers where my mac n’ cheese. I love the way my mother makes them, but I have my own version that I think is superior as the peppers are stuffed with quinoa, which is higher in protein that rice. I also make my fava beans with dill like they do in the Middle East, rather than in a tomato sauce as is more common in traditional in Greek cooking. The stuffed peppers part of this meal is one of those recipes that is highly versatile — you can stuff them with any combination of grains (couscous, wild rice, millet or polenta), fresh or dried herbs, and whatever veggies you have either fresh, or cooked leftovers from a previous meal. I’ve even topped the pepper off before with a béchamel sauce, and added roasted pecans (which is a big no no now considering Mark is allergic to nuts).
Fava Beans with Dill Butter
- 3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter (depends how buttery you want it)
- 1/2 large onion, minced
- 1 19 oz can fava beans
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 large bunch dill, minced
- Lemon juice
Melt butter over medium-low heat heat in a large, straight-sided skillet, stir in onion and salt liberally. Cook until onion is very soft and aromatic, about five minutes, then add beans. Stir to coat beans with butter and cook for one minute, then add parmesan, and stir until cheese melts.
Remove from heat and stir in dill. Add salt to taste and lemon juice.
Roasted Bell Peppers Stuffed with Quinoa
I’m not going to include amounts for the stuffing ingredients since you can make any amount of peppers for your purposes. I find 1 large pepper feeds one adult if you are going to serve it along with beans, or meat, or save it the next day for a delicious lunch. Also, any colour of pepper is fine. When I was little I would only eat the sweet red peppers (much to my mother’s protests), but as an adult the green ones have grown on me considerably, as well as yellow, orange and white.
- good quality extra virgin olive oil (I love Zatoun’s certified organic and fair trade olive oil — you can get it in Toronto at 4 Life Natural Foods in Kensington Market, or in Montréal at Le Frigo Vert near Concordia University)
- onion, chopped
- chopped fresh or cooked vegetables (for example mushrooms, carrots, spinach — this time I used leftover cooked yellow beans and fresh heirloom tomatoes because I had them on hand)
- 1-4 bell peppers, cored, and seeded with tops removed and reserved
- chopped fresh herbs (optional — for example parsley, basil, thyme, I love using rosemary with polenta) and/or dried herbs
- pesto (optional, but I used it this time)
- cooked quinoa (or other grain), 1 uncooked cup will stuff 4 peppers
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a baking pan with oil then set aside.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until transparent, 8 to 10 minutes. If you are using hard vegetables that are uncooked or mushrooms, add them to the skillet and cook until softened, 4 to 5 minutes more. Turn off heat, and add herbs, and tomatoes, pesto, spinach if you are using them. Stir in cooked quinoa and toss gently to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to let filling cool until just warm.
Divide quinoa mixture evenly among the peppers, gently packing it down and making sure to fully fill each pepper. Top each pepper with its reserved top, then arrange them upright in the prepared pan. Brush the peppers on the outside with more olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, checking halfway through, until peppers are tender and juicy and filling is hot throughout, about 1 hour.
Divide quinoa mixture evenly among the peppers, gently packing it down and making sure to fully fill each pepper. Top each pepper with its reserved top, then arrange them upright in the prepared pan. Brush the peppers on the outside with more olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, checking halfway through, until peppers are tender and juicy and filling is hot throughout, about 1 hour.
Easy Homemade Pickles
I’m in Montréal, and we just finished making a batch of refrigerator dill pickles. Hopefully this will be the last batch before I start making proper shelf stable canned goods. I love this recipe so much, even through it only keeps for a month in the refrigerator. Who am I kidding? WE LOVE PICKLES! Mark alone can polish off the whole jar in two weeks, and adding me to the mix means we can barely make it last a week. This is a great recipe because it is super easy, and it makes just a small batch perfect for using up any vegetables you got too many of at the market.
You’ll need:
- 1 1/2 pounds pickling cucumbers (approximately 5 cucumbers)
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup filtered water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 4 teaspoons pickling spice mix
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled
- large handful fresh dill
- 1 clean quart Mason Jar
Wash and dry cucumbers. Chop ends off and slice into spears.
Put garlic, 3 teaspoons of the pickling spice, and 3/4 of the fresh dill into the jar. Pack the cucumber spears into the jars as tightly as you can without crushing them. Add remaining teaspoon of pickling spice, and dill to the jar.
Combine vinegar, water and salt in sauce pan and bring to a boil.
Pour the brine into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Put lids on the jars, and let them cool on the counter top. Once they’re cool, put them in the refrigerator. Try to resist the urge to eat them early, and let them cure for at least a day before opening the jar. They are worth the wait!
