Spring Has Sprung & Farmers Markets are Awesome

It's been forever since I've written, but I'm back.  I guess I was just waiting for Spring and all it brings...especially at the Farmers Markets.  True, I was hoping for fiddleheads and ramps in particular, but I'll have to wait a little longer.  In the meantime, here's my score from Halifax Seaport Market.

One-Armed Saga of Simple Meals Continues

Every cloud has a silver lining.  Mine has many.  My very dramatic fall, complete with the arrival of fire truck and ambulance trip to emergency, surgery - I now have a titanium plate in my forearm - at least was on my left wrist - first silver lining.  Although you'd be surprised at how dependent we are on our non-dominant hand.

Another silver lining... my family

Genesis of a Summer Salmon & Corn Dinner

How do your meals come about?  Are you a planner?  Kudos if you are.  I'm a planner wannabe, but somehow never make it.  I might be able to plan dinner in the morning, but an entire week of meals... not going to happen, unfortunately.  I'm more of a ... how to describe it... spontaneous sounds good, but the truth is, I'm really like a new puppy... attracted to everything for a minute and then excited by the next thing I see.  What inspires me today, might leave me cold tomorrow... or might, as is often the case, percolate over days and become something totally different.  I thought I'd share how my mind worked for this particular meal.

Salmon - another Super Food

I'm still recovering from Wednesday night's Surf & Turf extravaganza, so last night's dinner was a much simpler affair...

How to Make Your Own Smoker Box

Since my daughter decided she wanted a smoker for her backyard, I've become obsessed with the notion... especially after watching so many TV chefs creating their own smokers on their giant BBQs and reading some article online (if only I could remember where) about making a smaller version at home.

Naturally, the article I read recently is now lost in the vast ethernet. So I did a google search... "How to make your own smoker box" and the funniest thing happened... Third suggested link... AskRuth... which is also... ME!... had the answer I wanted and I wrote it back in 2006. Another great reason for me to write blogs! I had forgotten all about it.

Perhaps I didn't use enough wood chips... I just have a small Weber Q with one rack and thought one cup of soaked apple wood chips would do. It wasn't very smokey and it did take longer to reach a hot temperature, but ... with the help of Peter of The Fish Shop at Pier 20 (the Seaport Farmers Market), his heavenly salmon fillet and his own Maple Sugar Rub with secret spices... it was still delicious, served with some grilled asparagus from Noggins Corner Farm Market.

And did I mention that it took no sweat at all in the kitchen! So, so flavorful with so little effort? Perfect for the hot smoldering summer nights to come. By then I'm sure I'll get the "smoking" down pat. Any suggestions from those who've done it successfully on a little BBQ, please leave me a comment.

First Steps to Getting Kids to Eat Healthy

Last week I wrote about a very cool app for moms (and grandmas too) by Annabel Karmel, who's been inspiring moms for a long time. I was particularly excited about a recipe for fish cakes. The truth is, neither of my grandsons will eat fish. But look how cute that Nemo like fish looks with radish bubbles, "ocean" peas, half a sweet pea pod mouth and slice of egg eye. I figured they'd never be able to resist. My daughter just gave me a look that said... "are you serious?" and added "I do hope you have a back up plan".
I even had my chef extraordinaire - Boaz, do the plating... which he thoroughly enjoyed, wearing his favorite chef apron. So I was hopeful when we reached the table. Perhaps my first mistake was calling them "fish" cakes. Perhaps I would have had a better chance if I said "salmon" cakes or just "nuggets that swim in the ocean" cakes. They do love chicken nuggets.

Kid Friendly Salmon Cakes

At least Dov, the little one, put some in his mouth before spitting it out. And they both did eat the white part of the egg - rejecting the yolk, but Boaz, wouldn't even try the cute fish he made. Good thing there's always ingredients for grilled cheese sandwiches around here.

That said... my Honey, my daughter and I loved them. And hopefully, one day soon the kids will love them too. In the meantime, I'll just make them as patties without the bubbles and sea floor of peas... and I will be making them often.

What do you do to get your little ones to try new things?

A Jumble of Goodness

Between getting ready for next week's move and the heat wave we're experiencing, my mind is as jumbled as this photo. The days have been hectic and I seem to end the day in a blur. So I thought I'd share some random thoughts, photos and recipes.
Sharron was coming into town for her day off and I needed to make something light and delicious. The beautiful salmon fillets I picked up at Mike's Fish Shop at the farmers' market were to be the stars. Although most of my cookbooks and magazines are packed (my Honey packed 38 boxes of books while I was in Montreal, probably half were food related!!!). I did see a fantastic recipe for Tea Smoked Salmon on fineCooking.com

BUT... no time or energy for the whole affair...not to mention no BBQ. So I didn't do the delicious looking citrus-cucumber relish or actually tea smoke the salmon. What I did manage was to marinate the salmon (and some extra large shrimp) as directed - 1/4 cup Chinese dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp finely grated orange zest, 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes. I let the salmon marinate for about 20 minutes and quickly pan grilled them. When the salmon was grilling, I placed the shrimp in the marinade and as soon as the salmon was done (about 15 minutes), I grilled them too. Served over a simple mixed green salad tossed with a little apple cider vinegar and sesame seed oil.
Dessert was both simple and simply delicious. I love it when nature does all the work...strawberries (maybe the last of the season) and blueberries (definitely the first of the season), sprinkled with a tsp of granulated sugar...just enough to get the juices flowing.
And what could be more perfect on a hot, sunny summer's day than playing hooky from packing and spending it on the brand new dock at Joanna (Sharron's big sister) & Ezra's with Sharron and her friend Jasmine with a picnic lunch of leftover salmon turned into a magical salad made with fresh peppery arugula and other salad greens from Jasmine's garden and some Ran-Cher Acres Cayenne & Garlic seasoned goat cheese. Not to mention, the last of the strawberries & blueberries for dessert.
And more fun in the sun...we went strawberry picking with Boaz, Dov, Ezra (aka Daddy) and Sharron on Sunday.
That's daddy & the boys munching a little snack of homemade biscuits and cookies at Indian Garden Farms - a wonderful find for u-picking strawberries & raspberries. They were just bringing in their own green peppers to their on-site market (still warm from the field and sun) while the boys and I were identifying all the fresh produce. Dov did insist that the tomatoes were apples. Wait until he gets to pick some real apples in another month or so.
It is the end of the season so the strawberries were not that plentiful. Dov was our taste tester and he thought they were awesome. We think he ate his weight in berries.
That's Dov digging into a plate of spaghetti at Camp Kadimah, just reminding everyone that Presto Pasta Night is just around the corner. Don't forget to share your entries with Janet of The Taste Space, this week's wonderful host. Just send your link to saveur11 (at) yahoo (dot) ca with a cc to me - ruth (at) 4 everykitchen (dot) com. I just roasted a chicken (started at 7:30 am to avoid the heat that is sure to melt me later. I'm hoping to make a pasta with chicken, fresh rosemary, some mushrooms and a dash of white wine. I'm even going to cheat a little and boil up the pasta now so I only have to do a quick reheat at dinner time.

And now it's back to packing!

Dieting is Never Hard with Fresh Local Ingredients

Last weekend, I shared my great score from the Halifax Farmers Market, so I thought I'd share some of my tasty, easy to do meals. And the emphasis is on "EASY". When you use fresh ingredients - and I'm talking, within a day from purchase, it's amazing how intense the flavor is. It's also amazing fresh they are even later in the week. Normally, after a couple of days in the fridge, the greens are wilting and, I'm ready to start craving...well...just about anything else!

But fresh mixed greens and herbs from my friends at the market, mean that every bite is fantastic and unique and needs so little to make each mouthful pop. The salad above, served with grilled lamb steak (this recipe has been a standard here since before I first posted it in 2005) from Wood 'n Hart, was just drizzled with a little good olive oil, a spritz of lemon juice, some freshly ground pepper and grated Parmesan cheese.
These seared scallops, served over the wonderful sauteed flowering mustard greens from Ted Hutton Family Farm, (just a little oil and some chopped green garlic) was all drizzled with Citrus-Balsamic Glaze, which may not be totally South Beach Diet friendly, but a little bit goes a long way and it's packed with flavor. So good, in fact, I used it as a baste for roasted salmon served with roasted cherry tomatoes and asparagus.

Oh...the skirt steak...gobbled up within hours of my last visit. I'm already counting down to this Saturday to see what I can find.

We're Moving...What To Do With All Those Magazines?

It's official. We're moving this summer...not sure where in Halifax yet, but it's time to move on.

Don't get me wrong, it's been a fabulous three years living in a converted convent, overlooking the harbor, so close to the Naval Base that I get to hear O Canada every morning at 8 AM and only a block from a foodie heaven - The Hydrostone Market. Great appliances to play with in the kitchen (particularly awesome for one who loves to cook), a fantastic landlady. Really, it's hard to budge, but I really have been missing a BBQ and a little patch of green to grow some herbs at least.

Of course the thought of ACTUALLY moving, packing up all our stuff...I'm tired just thinking about what to keep and ...dare I say it...what needs to go. I decided to start with all those cooking magazines I've had from the mid to late '90's (I got rid of earlier issues before moving from Toronto).

Fortunately for me, I started with Cooking Light Magazine (taking up half a shelf). They have this wonderful partnership with myrecipes where they store recipes on line and you can create your own recipe box to refer to whenever - and wherever you wish - even creating folders for appetizers, soups. or whatever works for you. It's awesome! I'm hoping that the other magazines do something similar.

Apple Horseradish Glazed Salmon

I'm also trying to use what I have on hand, so this salmon dish really got my attention. I used some of my favorite local jelly from Tangled Garden, probably my most favorite Nova Scotia place to visit. And fortunately for me, Beverley brings some of her awesome herb jellies, vinegars and oils to the Saturday Farmers Market, because I used up all of my apple sage jelly and probably should pick up her horseradish jelly too. Dinner was delicious.

As for tonight's dinner...the chicken with sherry vinegar sauce sounds great too.

Celebrations - Birthday & Passover Seders

Birthday treat ...

...finally a new photo with me and my girls - Sharron, Joanna and me

Ready for the Passover Seder

I mentioned before that my daughter Sharron was in for my birthday and it's been joyously hectic since her arrival. I thought I'd share some of the highlights...which always entails cooking and recipes.

Saturday morning at the market held an interesting discussion in the line at Getaway Farm about liver. Bottom line...you either love it or hate it...there is no in between. I love it, but never make it because my Honey ...well...he's in the other camp. So at least twice a year - for Jewish holidays, Joanna makes some chopped liver - no recipe, sorry and no picture either because...well, it never looks pretty. It's hard to find good beef liver in this town, so I was excited when I saw some and called my daughter (waking her up at 7 AM) to ask how much she needed..."Lots" was the answer so I took 4 pounds which was probably twice as much as we needed. No worries - those of us who do enjoy it at the Seder table on Monday had fantastic care packages to take home!

The afternoon was spent doing a little of the cooking for the Seder (I like to do everything as close to serving as is possible. So starting two days before is as early as I care to go.)...some fantastic Caramel Matzo Crunch from Marcy Goldman's A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking and of course I forgot to take a picture of that too. The rest of the day was spent visiting and organizing.

Sunday was my birthday and I opted to cook dinner for family and friends of Sharron's who are like family. My Honey thought we should eat out or order in... that I shouldn't have to cook on my birthday. Silly him - it's one of my biggest pleasures.

Cooking schedule for the day...

Chicken Soup & Matzo Balls

and Tunisian Date Cake for Monday's Seder

My Birthday Dinner - from one of my latest cookbook acquisitions -
Rose Reisman's Family Favorites: Healthy Meals for Those Who Matter Most
Roasted Salmon with Teriyaki Hoisin Sauce

Roasted Root Vegetables with Maple Syrup Dressing

And my own, thrown together, simple mixed green salad with a blueberry balsamic vinaigrette.

Dessert was just the birthday cake. Everyone seems to have a personal favorite....homemade with love, or store bought; ice cream cake or something baked. My family usually opt for something chocolate, and usually of the ice cream variety. I, on the other hand have to wait until my birthday comes around for the store bought (I'm talking grocery store) vanilla cake with white butter cream icing and hard candy roses (see top of post).

Boaz and Dov seemed happy with my choice too.

Monday morning and more cooking for the Seder...boiling a dozen eggs and whipping up Charoset for the ritual part of the meal.

Gefilte fish (I cheated)...bought frozen logs that you just put in boiling water, seasoned with a carrot and onion for an hour and a half.

Two giant Potato Kugels (One would have been plenty)
Roasted Asparagus - without the grated cheese garnish in the recipe, whipped up while everyone was eating their appetizers.

The rest of the cooking was perfectly prepared by Joanna and her able assistant, Sharron - too busy for a photo.
Roast stuffed leg of lamb, carrot tsimmis, salad, and of course the chopped liver.

Plus some candid shots....note the empty table...that's the ritual portion before we overindulged.

Ezra, Boaz, Joanna & Dov
The rest of us, pardon the blur. And what does a three year old do when he's not quite engaged in the Seder? He uses Grandma's camera...
Poppa's shoe and my favorite...
Self Portrait.

For those of you celebrating Easter this coming weekend, I hope yours is as wonderful as our past weekend was and may it bring you Peace and Joy. Oh...and what will you be serving anyway?

Remember that I'll be hosting this week's Presto Pasta Night Roundup - I even found kosher for Passover pasta. Send your entries to ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com.

Haircuts & Visits

Yesterday my birthday present arrived. Well, my birthday isn't until Sunday, but my Honey flew my younger daughter, Sharron in from Toronto for a visit. I'm determined to get new photos with BOTH my angels this visit.

But this post is really about food...more important..."what to have on hand when you don't really know the plan" food. Surprisingly, I don't seem to have one pasta recipe with my most frequently used combinations - shrimp and cured chorizo. I guess, the throwing them together with a quick toss of olive oil and perhaps a spritz or two of white wine doesn't really count as a recipe.

Let me back up a bit....
I spent much of the day with Joanna, Sharron's older sister and her boys. It was time for Boaz to get a haircut. And, shall we say, his earlier experiences were ....dramatic?....intense?...how would loud crying and outright refusal be best described anyway? Sharkey's Cuts for Kids is an awesome place and this time around Boaz was a trooper.
Mummy couldn't quite get herself to cut off Dov's curly locks, so he just had fun practicing for the big day.

But back to dinner plans....Shar's flight was due in at 4:30PM and the big decision was whether to have everyone over to our place, or have dinner at Jo & Ezra's. For much of the afternoon, it was debated back and forth, I could always pull shrimps out of the freezer and chorizo out of the fridge - this time with some sun-dried tomatoes and oil cured black olives in olive oil and garlic. Joanna could do something vegetarian or quickly defrost some boneless chicken. We both knew the base would be pasta. Simple, delicious, and very easy to do for last minute decisioning.
In the end, Shar's flight was delayed and, since Boaz came with me to surprise her, and I promised that we could watch airplanes for a bit, we decided that dinner would be at their place - so that bath & bed time would be easier. Funniest thing of all....no pasta was harmed in the making of this dinner. Joanna whipped up some Creamed Salmon on Toast... another quick dinner made from staples - this time from the pantry.

And tonight, because I'm still not sure of the plans....
Pasta with Aleppo Pepper Shrimp, Asparagus & Chorizo - my new take on an old favorite. At least that's the plan for now.

Tomorrow is Presto Pasta Night Roundup #156 is being hosted by Savoury Specialist at Our Taste of Life and you still have time to send in your fantastic pasta dishes. Just send your entries to sjm_bernardo (at) yahoo (dot) com with a cc to me ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com

Asian Salmon Patties with Cold Chinese Noodles

Just in under the wire, but it was so good and how could I not send it in to Presto Pasta Nights, this week hosted by Mrs Ergul Passion for Life & Food.

Now usually - and especially in dead of winter, even if the weather is warm (I use the term loosely) - I make hot pasta, leaving cold noodles for hot summer days. That said I have a new cookbook that I'll be writing about in a day or two - Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast

This dish of Asian Salmon Patties intrigued me...and believe me they are nothing like my mother's Salmon Patties. Freshly grated ginger, sesame oil and crushed red chili pepper flakes are definitely different to my mother's (I'll have to make them for you one of these days...or you could buy my cookbook Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories - Recipes to Warm the Heart).

But I digress...the book suggests serving them with a fantastic Sesame Mayo and some Cold Chinese Noodles with Sesame Dressing - again - fantastic! This time I used some Chinese Shrimp Noodles which were delicious.

I tried to prepare my Honey for the fact that the noodles were cold...I told him four times. And yet, he still was surprised when he tasted them. Once over the shock, he gobbled it all up and guess what he's taking for lunch tomorrow? Cold noodles and Asian Salmon Patties, because one meal of it is not enough!

You still have some time to send in your own pasta...just post, mention Mrs Ergul Passion for Life & Food and email it in to limpeilin (at) gmail (dot) com and cc me ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com

See you at the roundup tomorrow.

Simple Really Says It Best

Yesterday was actually my very first outing since coming down with a cold last Saturday. I really know it's practically over because I wanted something other than soup or scrambled eggs and toast. That said after a couple of hours with my daughter and two very energetic toddlers, followed by a couple of errands (more about that on the weekend), I was pooped.

Too pooped to make the lovely sounding Cavatelli with Cauliflower - a teaser recipe I got to promote Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's latest book, which I would love to have....Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes I promise to make it sooner than later.

In the meantime, I did have the energy to come up this this tasty dish - no real recipe required.

• Place two salmon fillets on a tin foil covered rimmed baking sheet.
• Preheat the oven to 400F/200C
• Spritz some lemon juice and sprinkle some fresh oregano (or dill), a pinch of freshly ground black pepper and a light dusting of paprika over the fish
• Roast for 10-15 minutes (until it is cooked through but still very juicy)

While the salmon was roasting, I made the salad, which was just some spicy mixed greens tossed with some grated Asiago cheese, a drizzle of good olive oil and another drizzle of six year old Balsamic vinegar flavored with wild Nova Scotia Blueberries (discovered in the back of my pantry - and so glad I did).

Simple does say it best. It was delicious, easy, healthful, and a breeze to clean up after. What do you cook (or want to eat, at least) when you start to recover?