Mentor Cooks & No Recipe

It's no secret that high up on my "Favorite Chefs" list are those who share simple, easy to make yet spectacular to serve dishes.  Chef Michael Smith's catch line for his FoodTV show Chef at Home is "My secret recipe is cooking without a recipe.".  I love the show and his book The Best of Chef at Home , which frequently finds its way to my counter. A little birdie tells me that he has a new book out called Chef Michael Smith's Kitchen.Then there's Jamie Oliver, who takes "easy peasy" to a whole new level in his FoodTV show Jamie's Meals in Minutes . His accent is so much cuter than Rachel Ray... but I digress.  Bal Arneson is another of my favorite cookbook authors and TV chefs.  I have two of her books Everyday Indian and Bal's Quick and Healthy Indian that I've talked about HERE and HERE  and I love watching Spice Goddess.

All that to introduce last night's dinner, where the best of my three mentor chefs aligned to help me create our Indian feast... another meatless meal.  What is the world coming to when my Honey and I, devout carnivores are eating three meatless dinners in a row!   But yesterday afternoon, I took a break and watched the tail end of an episode of Chef At Home... I really don't even remember what he was cooking.  It just was his way that always inspires me to get creative in the kitchen.   Then I watched Jamie creating a curry dinner with cauliflower and butternut squash that had me drooling and got me thinking.   Off to the bookshelf for a glance through Bal's cookbooks and I came up with this....my version of cooking without actual recipes... just lots of loving guidance and inspiration.

Turmeric & clove Brown Rice - tip from Bal & Jamie - place rice in a pot; place a finger lightly on top of the rice; pour water in gently until the water reaches the first digit.  Tip from Jamie - sprinkle a little turmeric, add a few cloves and a drizzle of oil.  Do not stir.  Bring to a boil,  Lover heat & cover.  Let simmer for 20-30 minutes (depending if you use white or brown, which takes longer).  About 5 minutes before it should be done, use the handle of a wooden spoon to give a gentle stir, taste to see if the rice is cooked (nothing like mushy rice), if it is set aside, otherwise continue to cook for the full time.  All the water should have been absorbed.

Cauliflower & Sweet Potato Curry - my own creation based on ideas from all three chefs.   In a large skillet, saute 1 chopped onion and a grated 1" piece of peeled fresh ginger in some olive oil.  Let it soften and add some of your favorite curry paste NOT SAUCE,  I had Rogan Josh (Tomato & Paprika)and Jalfrezi (sweet peppers & coconut) curry pastes in the fridge so I let my nose direct me.   Jalfrezi won out this time.  I added half the jar (about 1/2 cup) and added it to the onions.  Once the fragrance filled the kitchen, I added chunks of peeled, sweet potato and cauliflower.  (I was going to add some Swiss Chard, but completely forgot to at this point... oh well, next time.)  and some water, gave it a toss put the cover on and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  Then, when the sweet potatoes were mostly tender, I added a little more Jalfrezi and a heaping dollop of yoghurt to make a creamy sauce, adding a little more water ( I like mine saucy to pour over the rice).  Heated it up, tossed in a huge handful of chopped fresh cilantro leaves, and done!

I served it with some Bedekar Mango Pickles (my Honey's favorite) and nan bread (store bought and zapped in the microwave to heat & soften) for a perfect dinner.

And I have another meal to serve up on Hey What's For Dinner, Mom? Meatless Monday link up.

Don't worry my fellow carnivores... tonight's dinner an awesome flank steak from my favorite butchers Getaway Farm who produce some wonderful grass fed beef.  The marinade a Chilean Pebre Sauce, so do come back tomorrow for the recipe.

What's your favorite "no recipe" recipe?

Spices, Spices & More Lovely Spices

It's true that I hadn't finished off my stash of Epices de Cru Curries & Masalas that I wrote about here, before I started craving more spicy goodness from them... and I finally picked some up at the market last week...

My Aleppo Seven Spice Blend from Epices de Cru

I did use up the last of the Sri Lankan Black Curry & the Singapore Curry blends to make my own curry blend and a variation of a Mark Bittman recipe from my brand new app for my brand new iPad.

Mellow Lamb Curry

As for the Aleppo Spices... we all know that spice blends are great to flavor soups and stews, but I ground them up and dusted two excellent strip loin steaks from Getaway Farm and grilled them ... indoors on a grill pan rather than brave the snow to do it outside. Served with a tasty Caesar Salad - a perfect dinner.

And now I'm off to the market again to see what else I can find...

Foodie Fun on iPads & iPhones

It's been a couple of weeks since I got my fantastic Apple iPad and I'm having a great time downloading foodie apps and checking them out. Sitting in my living room, I just pick one... do a search for any ingredient... and in an instant have a list of recipe options with tabs to create a shopping list that can get sent to my iPhone, notes I can add to make changes, write comments or change ingredients... like I usually do in the margins of my paper cookbooks. It's all very exciting.

But I have a confession... I'm one of those cooks that enjoys leaving a trail of fingerprints, ingredient splatters and notes on cookbook pages. Many people over the years have bought me those plexiglass stands to preserve the condition of my cookbooks. I scoff at them! Those marks add character... not to mention a very quick flip to have the book itself stop at a well loved recipe.

So, I've been stalling when it came to actually take my iPad into the kitchen. The last thing I want is to "decorate" it with gobs of oil or gravy! So I made one dish... more in a minute, wiping my hands every 30 seconds (or so it seemed) and telling my Honey that I had to find some sort of protective cover for it. He found this great idea with something I always have on had .... Just put the iPad into a gallon size ziplock baggie (the extra large size) with the labelling on the back, zip it up and you have the perfect protection without interfering with functionality.

So now that I'm not scared to death of messing it up, there's the other big challenge... which app do I start with.


In honor of Alex of A Moderate Life's cool Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop, I thought I'd find a lovely lamb stew recipe from my How To Cook Everything iPad app (I have the free iPhone version too).

I need a great comfort dish for the blustery winter weather we're having . If you look closely at the photo at the top of the page, you'll see a lovely dinner plate starring my iPad dinner of Mellow Lamb Curry.

I modified it a bit... but then that's exactly what Bittman is all about. Given my Honey's sore throat, I left out the cayenne pepper. I also used a different curry blend of spices, combining the last of the Sri Lankan Black Curry & the Singapore Curry blends to make my own curry blend.



Plus it's a great Hearth 'n Soul entry too, I think. A partner in crime to Alex, is GirliChef, but you can get to Hearth 'n Soul through either of these ladies (plus a number of others).

Now it's time to check out some more foodie iPad apps to download. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

The Spice Man & Epices de Cru

A week or so before my first speedy trip to Toronto, I met Costas Halavrezos and his neighor & friend Ruth at the Old Brewery Market. He now distributes a wonderful collection of spices from around the world hunted down by the Spice Hunters at Epices de Cru, headquartered in Montreal. You have to check out the website, where you'll find, not only the fantastic spices and aromatic blends, but brilliant recipes and stories on their blogs - a National Geographic trek around the world searching out the finest spice treasures anywhere.
Costa had so many wonderful choices of gift boxes and individual spices, my head was spinning. In the end, I couldn't resist the gift box (well... it was a gift to me from me and I don't feel guilty in the least)... my kit - Caris et Masalas - curries & masalas, included Sri Lankan Black Curry, some Jamaican curry, some Martinique Colombo Spice Blend, some Mauritius Masala, some Trinidadian Curry, and some Singapore Curry.
After much sniffing of tins, I decided on the sri Lankan Black curry and whipped up Kalu Mas Curry with just a few changes to their delicious recipe... no lemongrass and I used fenugreek leaves as I had no curry leaves on hand either. It still was spectacular.
Their aromatic Basmati Rice Pilaf was equally delightful, just as presented and so simple to do. Don't you just love the toasted poppy seed garnish? The sweetness of the rice - cardamom, cloves, cinnamon & coriander does it well - was the perfect partner for the tangy curried beef - the tamarind paste really added zing to the dish.
And a very cool trick to keep your blend fresh... The note in the box advised me to blend the entire little tin so that all the individual whole spices would be part of the mix you added to your dish. As you can see, just dipping a spoon into each jar would mean missing out on one or more fragrant spice. If you do have any left, pour the ground spice back into the little tin and freeze until the next time.

Now I have to decide which blend to try next... and hope that Costa is still at the market so I can purchase some of the individual spice tins as well.

A Whole New Perspective on Curry

Truth...I'm embarrased to say, the first time I ever tasted curry was in London, England when I travelled there for the first time at the ripe old age of twenty one. Somehow, it never made it into my mother's repertoire and even when I was boss of my own kitchen, I didn't make it very often.

My take...curry = Indian; the more Southern the hotter the dish; lots of work to prepare (of course it is when you make a giant feast and invite the world), so best eaten out.

Gradually my horizons expanded (through restaurants at first) Pad Thai, Singapore Noodles, Jamaican goat curry roti,...plus now you find curry dishes on just about every menu of every restaurant.

That said, I'm still learning and the latest in my treasure trove of cookbooks is Curry Cuisine which does an awesome job of explaining which countries cook which curries, what spices each uses and tons of other interesting info (like Japan first started cooking with curry through their British connections in the mid 19th Century. Check out my review for the whole scoop.

And, how uninformed of me to lump "curry" with India...Northern India and its many regions, Southern India and Pakistan are all so varied in their use of spices and cooking methods, not to mention Vietnam, Laos, Caribbean....

I tried this Pakistani Lamb & Tomato Curry, expecting lots of heat and was pleasantly surprised with its mild and mellow flavors.
I served it with another Pakistani dish - Chickpea & Rice Pilau, thinking I'd need it to counter the anticipated HEAT. It was gloriously aromatic and quite a lovely combination. Now I have to choose my next cultural curry...I wonder where I'll end up?

What's you latest food fixation? And which book explains it best?