Easy Indian Veggie Curry

Cooking can be a release, a much-needed break from studying or a pleasurable unwinding activity after a long day at work, but it can also be stressful, straining, and annoying when you're hungry/not sure what you're doing/exhausted/the take-out place is right down the block. Such was my week - parental units out of town and studying for a pesky physics exam (tonight), I remembered what it was like not to cook out of merely pleasure (as I have had the awesome opportunity to do recently), but out of necessity. With a hankering for Indian spices and lack of a good, quick and healthy (read: not butter chicken) place nearby (or at least that I know of nearby - I love the places up on Jean Talon but it's much to far of a trek for a quick dinner on a Tuesday night), I decided to trust my internal judgement and go for it on my own, without recipe. What materialized may or may not be true Indian cuisine, but it successfully hit the spot for a hearty-yet-light, warm, easy weeknight dinner, with just enough leftovers to tide me to the next day, but not so much as to overwhelm me. Give it a try, and as always, play around! This would be great with different types of veggies and legumes (as I mention below in the recipe), with a bit of cream or yogurt stirred in at the last minute (if you crave a creamier dish) and served atop rice, quinoa, couscous, or barley. 

Easy Indian Veggie Curry

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic

1-2 teaspoons fresh chopped ginger

Saffron ** very optional**

1 small-medium eggplant, cut into quarters lengthwise and into 12-1 inch chunks

1 zucchini

1 turnip (optional)

Cumin (essential!)

Hot curry powder, or other spicy powder

Ground coriander (optional)

Cinnamon (optional)

1/2 - 1 cup white wine (optional, but highly recommended)

Canned whole or stewed tomatoes, or 2 large fresh tomatoes in chunks

any other quick-cooking veggies you like! I used cabbage shavings, but feel free to substitute green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, chickpeas, beans etc.

Water, chicken stock or veggie stock if necessary

Salt and pepper

Chopped cilantro or parsley as garnish

Serve atop quinoa, brown or white rice, couscous, barley, or potatoes!

Directions

Smash garlic with the side of a big knife (using your palm - see photo), remove skin, and chop finely. Cut onion in chunks. Heat oil in a pan slightly and add garlic, onions and ginger (and saffron is using, but very optional! It's $$ and I have leftover from Zanzibar), stirring every so often (lower heat if getting burned/too brown!), about 5-7 minutes. 

Smashing the garlic: Hit the flat side of a big knife with the palm of your hand to crush the garlic, but careful not to cut your fingers!

Some prepped veggies

Softened onions, garlic, ginger and saffron

Add eggplant to pan. Add a touch more oil if the eggplant seems dry. Cook over medium-low heat about 5 minutes until browned. Move eggplant around every couple of minutes but DO NOT stir constantly - the dish will turn into baby mush!

Eggplant addition

Add zucchini, turnip (if using) and about 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon coriander, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat, about 4 minutes, until slightly browned. The pan should be hot and seem a bit dry. Add 1/2 cup of white wine (or water/chicken stock/veggie stock, if not using white wine), deglaze (aka: scrape) bottom of the pan, lower heat slightly and cover, cooking about 5 minutes.

Turnips - some of the last veggies remaining from my dad's garden (remaining in our fridge, I mean!)

With turnips and zucchini

Spices added

Add tomatoes (squish them though your fingers if they are whole!), anywhere from 1/2 a container to a whole container, depending on your tomato preferences. Stir, and again, cover at a medium low heat, checking and stirring periodically, adding water or stock if it seems dry - there should be some thickening liquid at the bottom - about 10 minutes or until all veggies are soft (pierce with a knife to determine!).

Adding tomatoes (canned or fresh will work!)

Squish them through your fingers - the best part!

Let simmer, covered or not, until soft and the liquid has thickened

At this point I like to taste it and I usually add about 1 more teaspoon of cumin (I love the stuff), some more hot curry powder and salt. Stir to combine. Add any other veggies you're using (quick-cooking ones - see above!), stir, and cover until soft, about 5 minutes. If there is too much liquid, cook it off with the cover removed. Not enough liquid while you're cooking the soft veggies? Add a bit more!

Another remaining veggie from Robin's garden

Soft-veggie addition (cabbage, in my case)

Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and/or parsley and serve!

Ta-daaaaa!

Note: I had leftover chicken, so I sprinkled that on top, but I would highly recommend adding beans or chickpeas at the last step (soft-veggie addition) to ensure a bit of protein in the dish!

Eat with love, while Skyping with a BFF in Australia (hi Ali!)

Risotto-esque Barley with Mushrooms and Kale

I always forget how much I like risotto until I sneak a bite of it off someone else's plate in a restaurant. It's not something I'm ever inclined to make, it's not something my mother makes, and while it definitely is a comfort-y food, I rarely crave it. Something about risotto isn't quite nutty enough for my liking. And it can come dangerously close to tasting like baby food. While that doesn't bother me with something sweet like rice pudding, I'd like to still chew my meal (for the most part) while I still have teeth/before I need to get dentures, you? But still, I wondered... could the idea of risotto be co-opted and applied to another grain? Could a risotto-like dish be made with barley - a nuttier, crunchier, healthier substitute for rice? (it's low in fat, cholesterol-free, it contains tons of soluble and insoluble fibre, and it's a source vitamins and minerals like B3, B1, iron, magnesium and zinc, just to name a few. NOT gluten-free for any celiac's out there). I decided to venture and give it a go sans-recipe (apart from glancing at the proportions of barley-to-water). I think this one's a keeper! It makes a hearty, umami-filled vegetarian main, or a great side to fish, seafood, and chicken (maybe a bit heavy to pair with a red meat, but to each his own!). Many riffs can be made on it and I encourage you to explore! What would it taste like with a few baby tomatoes thrown into the pan at the last minute? What about some artichokes? or some chunks of good quality feta (not quite risotto-esque, but I'm sure delicious nonetheless!). Try it and let me know :) Happy cooking!

Risotto-esque Barley with Mushrooms and Kale

Ingredients

Olive oil

2 medium onions

1 cup pearled barley

lots of water (exact amounts specified in the directions)

1 bay leaf (optional)

about 2 cups of a variety of mushrooms, preferably at least half dried and reconstituted (so we can use the mushroom water later!)

Herbs e.g. thyme, sage, oregano (optional, but highly recommended)

2-3 cups of kale, swiss chard or spinach, central ribs removed, torn into smaller pieces

1 cup white wine

balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

1/2-1 cup shaved parmesan (optional)

Directions

Make 1 cup of barley according to package directions (or according to MY directions!); saute a small-to-medium onion in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat until browned and softened, 5 minutes. Add 1 cup barley, 2 cups water and bay leaf, if using. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed - check periodically to ensure the barley doesn't burn! (Note: You would usually stop here if you were just making straight-up barley). At this point, boil a few of cups of water and pour about 2 cups of water over your dried mushrooms. Let sit at least 20 minutes, or longer.

Saute those onions!

Putting the barley to simmer for 25 minutes (it's kind of like putting a baby to bed)

Don't dried mushrooms have a lovely, musky smell? It's reminiscent of the decaying leaves in a fall forest - all in a little nugget of joy! (I'm getting a little flowery with the words here, eh?) 

Once the barley is ready, fluff it with a fork. It is okay if there's a touch of extra liquid, you're going to add even more! Add about 1/2 of the broth from the soaked mushrooms (but NOT the mushrooms themselves!). Keep the barley on a low heat and stir occasionally ensuring the bottom doesn't burn. Once the liquid is reduced by about half (on my stove it took approximately 7 minutes) add the remaining mushroom liquid. Repeat again with any extra mushroom liquid, and the last time with about 1 cup of white wine. (Got it? Mushroom liquid, mushroom liquid, more mushroom liquid or water or chicken stock, white wine. If you find by the second one it's pretty mushy, skip the third and just add the wine!)

Fluffing

While that's going on, grab a saucepan, cut the remaining onion in chunks (not TOO small!), and again, saute in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. I chopped up some sage and threw it in here (it would be a good idea to add sage, thyme or rosemary at this point, about 2-3 tablespoons). Then add mushrooms, stirring occasionally until wilted and cooked through, about 7-10 minutes. Add about 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar and let bubble until most is gone, then add 1 cup white wine, scraping up bits from the bottom of the pan, and let wine cook down.

Onions and sage 

Adding the mushrooms

Bubbling wine concoction

Add the kale, stir in and cover until wilted, about 5 minutes (feel free to add a touch more wine or balsamic if it looks very dry!). Stir into barley. Add a TON of salt and pepper (if you weren't adding as you were cooking) and about 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar if you want it a touch more moist. If adding parmesan, stir in thoroughly while warm. Enjoy!

Pre-wilted kale

Kale and barley 

Stirring it all together

The finished product!

This one's a keeper! Bouillabaisse and Tarte Tatin - did we teleport to France?

It's just about that time of the year...not quite, but almost. The point in time where you want to forego interaction with most humans, where your circadian rhythms and internal clock scream, "HIBERNATE!" full blast in preparation for the cold that's sure to follow, where you're dying to curl up at home on a weekend night but kind of fearful that too many weekends in a row of you and Modern Family might result in permanent damage to your social life... Cue: DINNER PARTY. It need not be a flamboyant undertaking (although it can be, if you wish), nor does it need to take up all day. Plus, cook with others and suddenly it's an event, an evening, an activity. Anais seems to be the one prompting me to cook recently, and it was at her suggestion that we got a small group together for this weekend's affair.

What to make, what to make? I wanted something easy, something one-pot (or close to it), something comforting yet impressive, and something that we could do together. What better a time than to bust out my mother's bouillabaisse (French fish and seafood soup/stew) recipe? Yellow, fraying and splattered with cooking juices, we keep the instructions in a plastic envelope for fear that one day this magical artifact will disintegrate into thin air (and looking at the picture below, it seems as though that day is not too far away). Torn from the New York Times in 1975, it's one of our oldest and most cherished recipes. I always make a few modifications which I'll share with you below.

Legendary soup and recipe.

And I know I didn't have to add anything to that, but I'm feeling pretty Europe-tantilized these days (one of my best friends just moved to Belgium and my parents are all giddy that they're visiting Paris for a dermatology conference in December), so what better than to go with the French theme and make a Tarte Tatin? Deceptively easy, ethereally delicious, and completely manageable, it's the perfect dessert to pair with this meal. And last but not least, some cheese! We didn't have a cheese course, instead I served it with chunky, grainy country bread at the same time as the soup in order to spread the gooey delicacies on the bread and dip it into the broth forming a melty, tomato-y mouthful of goodness. But I cannot emphasize enough the value of going to a real cheesemonger and talking to the guy (or girl). Explain what you like. Tell them what you don't. Be honest if you don't know much. They WILL help; that's what they're there for! I told my guy, "I like melty cheeses. I like it when my cheeses smell like four-day-old toe jam. BUT I'm having guests, and they might not like their milk products quite so funky." He put together the four most perfect cheeses - three from Quebec and one from Switzerland - wonderful complements to each other, different textures, colours, types of milk, scents, strengths...a lovely companion to the soup. 

CHEESE! Yes, I made little label-flags. You have full permission to make fun of me. 

Since I made the meal backwards (dessert first, the main later), I'll include it here backwards too.

Tarte Tatin

Sour Cream Pastry

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

6 tablespoons chilled sour cream

Apple Filling

3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into large chunks

1 cup of sugar (don't cut these amounts down any further! I already omitted 1/2 a cup of sugar and 1/4 stick of butter!)

approx 8 medium (about 3.5 lbs) Gala apples (or other apples good for baking)

a pinch of cinnamon (optional)

a pinch of ground ginger (optional)

1 egg, beaten to blend

Blend flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl/mixer with a whisk attachment. Add butter and beat at medium-slow speed until butter is the size of small peas, about 3 minutes. Add sour cream and beat until moist clumps form, about 1 minute. Gather dough into a ball, press together, and flatten into 6-inch-diameter disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours. You can make this a day ahead of time and let soften slightly before rolling out!). 

Preheat oven to 425 C. Spread butter over the bottom of a 12-inch-diameter ovenproof skillet (if the handle of your skillet is plastic you CANNOT put it in the oven!! You'll have to move the apples to a pie dish before baking). Sprinkle sugar over butter and place over medium-low heat, cooking until better melts, sugar begins to dissolve, and mixture starts to bubble, about 3 minutes.

Melting the butter and sugar...deadly. I have a feeling my guests are glad they're only seeing this now

Remove from heat. Arrange apples on their sides around the edge of the skillet, placing apples tightly together. Arrange as many apples as will fit, and sprinkle with a touch more sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon and ginger, if using. Put skillet over medium heat, boil, adding extra apples as there is room, until a thick peanut butter colour syrup forms, about 45 minutes. If wanted, you can flip apples using a fork or paring knife halfway through to ensure even cooking (that's what I did), adding a touch more cinnamon and ginger once flipped.

Add the apples in concentric circles

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...

Cook until liquid is thick and about the colour of peanut butter. The addition of some cinnamon and a sprinkle of ground dried ginger spices things up a touch.

Remove from heat once peanut butter colour forms. Roll out pastry on floured surface to 12-inch round; place over apples. Cut four 2-inch slits on the top of pastry. Press pastry down around apples at the edge of the skillet; brush pastry with some of the egg glaze.

Bake tart until pastry is deep golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer to work surface and cool one minute. Cut around the edge of skillet to loosen pastry Place a large platter over skillet. Using oven mitts to protect your hands, hold the skillet and platter together TIGHTLY and invert, allowing the tart to fall onto the platter. Lift off skillet, and rearrange any stray or wandering apples. Cool tart 30 minutes and serve with ice cream, creme fraiche, or sour cream. Voila!

Flip the dough over and tuck under the apples.

Bake until browned, and then remove from oven.

Carefully flip onto platter and rearrange any fallen/out-of-place/naughty apples. Enjoy!

Bouillabaisse

About 8 servings

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chunks of onion (I added 2 leeks and reduced the amount of onion by about as much)

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1/2 tablespoon loosely packed saffron stems (if you're a student on a budget, you can omit these - they're expeez - but if not, I would encourage you not to skimp...saffron is subtle but makes all the difference)

1/4 cup of flour

2 cups fish stock, clam juice or water

2 cups peeled, red, ripe tomatoes, fresh or canned (I use canned)

2 cups (or even more) dry white wine

1 1/4 pounds fillet of non-oily, white-fleshed fish like sea bass, talapia, or any other that will hold well in a soup (ask your fish dude!)

1 pint or more scrubbed, well-cleaned mussels or littleneck clams (I used clams)

1 teaspoon chopped thyme (if you have)

about 10 shakes Tabasco

1 cup 15% cream

salt and pepper to taste

Parsley to taste

**Note** You can also toss in other seafood - here I used some shrimp and squid, but you can also toss in lobster, scallops, crab meat, etc.

Directions

Heat oil in a pot and add onion, leeks if using, garlic and saffron until fragrant and soft, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in flour using a wire whisk. 

Add fish stock, tomatoes and wine, stirring rapidly with the whisk. When blended, cook, stirring often, about 30 minutes.

Onions, leeks, garlic, oil, whisked together with flour to create a roux (this will thicken the stew once the liquid is added!)

Clam juice and wine.

Added tomates! (aka tomatoes)

Whiskwhiskwhisk.

Cut the fish into 1 1/2 inch cubes (better too big than too small, they will flake unto smaller pieces while cooking anyways), there should be about 3 cups. Add the fish and cook about 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer about 5 more minutes, until clams/mussels open and any other seafood is cooked through (sometimes I add a touch more wine here and let it cook down if it looks too thick for my liking).

NOTE! All this can be done before or as your guests arrive. Keep it on a low simmer. HOWEVER, if you're adding squid, only toss it in a minute or two before you plan on serving the soup, otherwise it will get rubbery!

Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with parsley, put on some jazz and let yourself be transported to Paris!

Adding some cream.

A little stir...

...and a little taste...can you guess what I probably said? "A little more salt and a few splashes of Tabasco."

Our table. Can a Saturday night get much better? (That's how I know I'm getting old. Hah.)

With fall comes comfort food; short ribs are a must

Saturday night (or early Sunday morning) we 'fall back' an hour. In exchange for the extra 60 minutes of sleep that I gain, is fewer hours of daylight, heightened pallor, minimized vitamin D, and potential seasonal acute depression (SAD). While some girls might cure these symptoms with a visit to the tanning bed, I have a feeling Dr. Robin might not approve (even if I DID wear the SPF 100 that I have seen time and time again in our closets). Instead, I'll make do with a little comfort food - short ribs! I decided to wait before including osso bucco...the marrow that's an essential element of osso bucco freaks some people out - but short ribs hit the comfort-food-spot, and best of all? They're still great after cooling/reheating or freezing! To be honest, I'm not sure about the exact science behind it, but I'm pretty sure I has something to do with the amount of collagen present and breaking down certain connective tissues, resulting in a more tender, falling-apart piece of meat. You can sop up the remains with many a starch: couscous, mashed potatoes or pasta do the trick, but my fav is barley, which combines with short ribs to form a hearty and healthy stew. There are a plethora of short ribs recipes, but the true secret is solely to give them enough time braising in the oven with enough liquid to absorb it all and  slowly disintegrate into a lovely, tender mixture. On top of the addition of salt (and maybe a little balsamic??) at some point, I suggest serving most short ribs with a touch of dijon mustard on the side... never an insult to the chef, but the addition of a little cold tang to some hot stew makes all the texture and flavour difference in the world. Enjoy!

Here's a slideshow of 12 yummy-looking recipes, most of which have my vote. Feast away! http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshows/2009/10/short_ribs_slideshow

SUPER simple, but you need many hours (5-8, but it can be divided e.g. turn it on for 3 hrs in the morning, 3 hrs in the evening): http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2008/10/braised_short_ribs

Just as easy and much shorter cooking time. They suggest marinating the short ribs overnight which surely does wonders, but I bet you could even do it for just a few hours before cooking: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2007/10/cabernet_braised_short_ribs_with_gorgonzola_polenta_and_mixed_herb_gremolata

And last but not least: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Braised-Beef-Short-Ribs-with-Root-Vegetable-Ragout-100597

Again, I tried to stick to the more simple, non-scary ones, but feel free to peruse websites for a few more additions! And I always like adding a little mushrooms to the sauce as it's braising in the oven.