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  • I made a vegan German potato salad

    The key part of German potato salad for me is the lack of mayonnaise and eggs. I make this up from scratch whenever I make it, but my version always includes two essential ingredients: Dijon mustard as part of the vinaigrette (I like the flavour and tang that it adds) and finely chopped dill pickles (a satisfying crunch and burst of vinegary / salty goodness).

    I also usually put in bacon / guanciale / schinken speck, but this time around, knew that there were going to be a number of vegetarians present and skipped the meat products. Hence, I (*gasp*!) accidentally made a vegan potato salad - which I didn't even realize until someone asked what was in it, and it dawned on me that yes, it was indeed a vegan potato salad :P

    The full recipe is on Foodista:

    Vegan German Potato Salad

    → 3:06 PM, Jun 27   •  Personal, cooking, Foodista, recipe, German, potato salad, vegan, Blog
  • Guanciale - magical pork jowls

    Now that the Olympics are over, Oyama again has guanciale. I picked some up to cook while on Bowen.

    The "traditional" recipes for guanciale are all pasta dishes (Bucatini alla Amatriciana, Spaghetti alla Gricia, Spaghetti alla Carbonara - here are recipes for all three plus instructions on how to cure your own guanciale).

    Here are some non-traditional recipes I found online:

    • Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Ponzu Fried Garlic, Guanciale, and Bonito Flakes - I have my own bacon + mustard recipe for brussels sprouts, so I know this would be yummy
    • Whole-wheat pasta with cabbage, mushrooms, and caraway seeds - I'm not a fan of caraway seeds, but I can see how the whole wheat pasta would mesh with the smokiness of the pork
    • Tiny potato dumplings with Tomato Onion Guanciale sauce - pretty similar to the pasta sauces, but done with potato dumplings aka gnochetti instead. Mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and guanciale would also be stellar, I think …
    • Seattle Shellfish Stew with Kale and Guanciale - there are a variety of recipes that mix mussels with guanciale. Lots of bacon + mussel recipes out there, so this makes sense. The kale has a bitterness to it that goes with the smokiness, which is what I'm hoping for with my recipe.
    • Sautéed Ramps in Guanciale - I've never had ramps, which are a sort of scallion/leek/onion/garlic - but are apparently wild leeks

    My recipe? I'm doing pasta with a bunch of Red Boar Kale.

    Spaghetti With Guanciale and Kale

    → 5:40 PM, Mar 6   •  Personal, recipes, Foodista, pork, guanciale, kale, Oyama, Blog
  • Ground Pork Ragout

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    See the full gallery on Posterous

    Trying for something vaguely like Anthony's ragout. I remember it had carrots and pork, and the nutmeg seemed a good direction to go.

    Ground Pork Ragout on FoodistaGround Pork Ragout

    → 11:39 PM, Mar 1   •  Personal, Foodista, photo, pork, recipe, ragout, Blog
  • Brunch as a meal to have people over for is neglected

    Ingredients

    12

    eggs

    12

    ounces jar of salsa

    1 ½

    cups grated cheese

    Preparation

    Step 1

    Pre-heat oven to 400°F

    Step 2

    Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with a little oil

    Step 3

    Crack an egg into each muffin tin

    Step 4

    Spoon about a tablespoon or so of salsa over each egg (don't worry if it slides to one side or the other of the yolk)

    Step 5

    Top each egg / salsa mixture with grated cheese - cheddar, monterey jack, or other flavourful melty-cheese works (mozzarella is too bland)

    Step 6

    Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes - cheese should be melted and bubbly, and egg should be cooked through

    via foodista.com

    Huevos Rancheros a la Muffin Pan on FoodistaHuevos Rancheros a la Muffin Pan

    We had brunch today. I was browsing through my New York Times cookbook earlier in the week thinking of something fancy, and then went in the completely opposite direction and made this super simple version of huevos rancheros.

    Baked another no knead to go with this, which was 2 parts white, 1 part rye, 1 part rolled oats. The oats kind of just disappear after the kneading, second rise, and baking, but they definitely improve the crumb. Also put in a can of Rickards Red beer.

    Potatoes were boiled briefly last night, then sat in the fridge with fresh ground coriander, fennel, paprika, and olive oil, and then hung out in the oven on low heat for a couple of hours this morning.

    Lastly in this post, but firstly served, was a “fruit salad” made of grated pear, Granny Smith apple, Pink Lady apple, and zest + juice of one lime.

    Brunch as a meal to have people over for is neglected. I will do it more often.

    → 4:09 PM, Feb 27   •  Personal, Foodista, no knead bread, recipe, breakfast, brunch, eggs, huevos rancheros, Blog
  • Spicy Coconut Tumeric Beef

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    I was going for the Banana Leaf's Rendang Beef curry - which is a completely different dish, but I think I got the coconut right, as well as the sweet + tang + spice.

    Spicy Coconut Tumeric Beef on FoodistaSpicy Coconut Tumeric Beef

    → 8:41 PM, Feb 20   •  Personal, cooking, Foodista, recipe, beef, coconut, tumeric, Blog
  • Simple Ethiopian Berbere Kuri Squash Soup

    I had a large kuri squash, and used it over several days. The small amount of cubed squash that I had leftover ended up being this single serving soup.

    Monsoon Coast Spices on Salt Spring Island makes a wonderful Berbere: http://www.monsooncoast.com/spices/ethiopian_berbere.html

     

    Simple Ethiopian Berbere Kuri Squash Soup on FoodistaSimple Ethiopian Berbere Kuri Squash Soup

    → 8:21 PM, Feb 8   •  Personal, recipes, Foodista, Berbere, Ethiopian, kuri squash, Monsoon Coast, soup, spicy, squash, Blog
  • flaky biscuits

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    I've been continuing on the baking kick. Biscuits are great because
    they take only 20 - 30 minutes from start to finish.

    New Flaky Biscuits

    → 10:12 AM, Jan 23   •  Personal, Foodista, baking, biscuits, Blog
  • Rosemary Tomato Soup

    1

    cup chopped onions

    ½

    cup finely chopped celery

    1

    tablespoon olive oil

    28

    ounces cans of canned tomatoes

    14

    ounces can of coconut milk

    1

    cube chicken bouillon

    1

    cup water

    1

    stalk of fresh rosemary

    1

    tablespoon brown sugar

    salt

    pepper

    edit Preparation

    Step 1

    Pour olive oil in a large soup pot and saute onions and celery until onions become translucent.

    Step 2

    Pour in tomatoes and coconut milk, dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in the cup of water and add it as well. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat.

    Step 3

    Add the stalk of rosemary and let simmer for 30 - 45 minutes.

    Step 4

    Remove the rosemary stalk and use a hand blender to puree the soup.

    Step 5

    Add the brown sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

    edit Tools

    • Hand blender

    edit About Rosemary Tomato Soup

    This was a very on-the-spot made up recipe. I was thinking that the stalk of rosemary would add some rosemary flavour, but I ended up simmering it quite a long time, so the resulting soup was

    If you substituted vegetable stock for the chicken stock, this would actually be a vegan recipe.

    via foodista.com

    I was configuring servers and it simmered a LOT longer than 30 minutes.

    → 11:33 PM, Jan 10   •  Personal, recipes, Foodista, rosemary, tomato, Blog
  • Spaghetti Carbonara with Bacon and Turkey

    ½

    package of spaghetti

    ½

    cup of bacon, chopped

    1

    tablespoon olive oil

    ⅓

    cup of minced shallots

    1

    clove minced garlic

    1

    cup diced cooked turkey

    ½

    cup sour cream

    ½

    cup water

    ½

    cup of grated cheese

     

    black pepper

    2

    egg yolks

    2

    tablespoons cream

    ½

    cup minced fresh parsley

    Preparation

    Step 1

    Cook about half a package of spaghetti until al dente, drain the water and set aside. If you have the pasta water boiling and add the spaghetti as you do the next steps, it should be ready at about the right time.

    Step 2

    Cook the bacon in a large saucepan (will need to fit all of the cooked spaghetti). Cook it over medium heat until it just starts to brown.

    Step 3

    Add the olive oil, shallots, garlic and turkey and continue to cook on medium until the shallots are translucent.

    Step 4

    Reduce heat to low and stir in the sour cream and water until evenly mixed. Add the grated cheese and stir until evenly melted. Add fresh cracked black pepper to taste (at least 1 tsp).

    Step 5

    Add the cooked spaghetti to sauce mixture and toss thoroughly.

    Step 6

    Beat the egg yolks with the cream and pour on top of the spaghetti, again mixing thoroughly. Now mix in the fresh parsley and serve immediately.

    via foodista.com

    As I saw in the comments on the recipe, I didn't like any of the carbonara recipes I saw, so I made my own. R doesn't like peas, but they would have gone well with this.

    We had this with the slaw on the side, which cut the heavyness of this dish.

    Spaghetti Carbonara With Bacon and Turkey on Foodista
    → 1:30 PM, Jan 9   •  Personal, recipes, bacon, carbonara, Foodista, spaghetti, turkey, Blog
  • Granola bars

    Ingredients

    2

    cups shredded coconut

    1 ½

    cups rolled oats

    1 ½

    cups raisins

    2

    cups sunflower seeds

    ½

    cup sesame seeds

    ¾

    cup chopped peanuts

    ½

    cup chopped cried fruit, like apricots

    ¼

    cup mini chocolate or carob chips

    ½

    teaspoon salt

    1

    cup honey

    1

    teaspoon vanilla

    1

    cup peanut butter

    Preparation

    Step 1

    Mix all the dry ingredients well in a large bowl. Blend honey, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Add to dry ingredients. Mix with your hands (grease hands first).

    Step 2

    Press firmly into a greased 9 x 13" pan. Bake at 275 F until golden brown. Time varies but anywhere from 8-16 minutes. Cool on a rack. Cut when cool.

    via foodista.com

    Healthy Granola Bars on Foodista

    Ending up making these tonight. I've had oats and shredded coconut haunting the cupboards for a while, and have been thinking about an on-the-go eat in the morning sort of thing. The Orange Ginger Granola bars look good, too.

    When I went to look for recipes, they're all very similar, and in fact don't seem to matter *what* you put in them.

    I left out sunflower and sesame seeds, and did crystallized ginger and some candied lemon peel for the fruit. The chocolate chips were white chocolate chunks. No honey, but half a cup of turbinado sugar and dark molasses. I like the dark, slightly bitter flavour of molasses, so we'll so how that turns out.

    The peanut butter was aged and sticky, so I added a bit of water to dissolve the sugar / molasses / peanut butter. No salt because I forgot about it.

    Needed to bake much longer (~30 minutes) and a little hotter than listed. Didn't stick together as well as I had hoped, but did end up being tasty.

    → 9:31 AM, Jan 5   •  Personal, recipes, Foodista, baking, granola bars, Blog
  • Proscuitto Egg Cups a la @ecstaticist

    Yield: 24

    Ingredients

    12

    slices proscuitto

    1

    cup cooked crab or lobster

    6

    eggs

    ¼

    cup cream

     

    salt

     

    pepper

    Preparation

    Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

    Step 2

    Get out a mini-cupcake pan with 24 cups

    Step 3

    Trim the top bit of fat from each slice of prosciutto

    Step 4

    Cut each slice in half, and fold it into the cupcake pan

    Step 5

    Place a bit of crab / lobster in each cup

    Step 6

    Beat the eggs with the cream and add salt & pepper to taste

    Step 7

    Pour the egg into each cup until it reaches the rim of each cup. It doesn't matter if the crab / lobster pokes out a bit

    Step 8

    Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until the eggs are set

    via foodista.com

    This is Evan's recipe - he'll need to edit to correct. Ben asked about it today, and I hadn't uploaded my picture yet, so I thought I'd add it.

    On Foodista, anyone can edit / improve the recipe, so go ahead and change it if you have improvements.

    → 11:51 PM, Jan 2   •  cooking, recipes, Foodista, appetizer, crab, decadent dinner, egg, Food, lobster, proscuitto, Blog
  • Foodists: Much Ado About Recipes

    Posted on Foodists: Much Ado About Recipes - http://foodists.ca/2009/12/29/much-ado-about-recipes.html

    Chicken Marsala Recipe on Rouxbe Screenshot

    Chicken Marsala Recipe from Rouxbe.com

    I’m facing a dilemma I’ve faced several times before. What to do about recipes?

    I'm facing a dilemma I've faced several times before. What to do about recipes? We don't focus on churning out lots of start-to-finish recipes here on Foodists, mainly because it's more about sharing food experiences rather than "just" recipes. But we do share our recipes, and try and tag the blog entries with ingredient hints to help find them. Still, it's not ideal for sharing lots of recipes.

    Most of my cooking using recipes falls into the "inspired by", "adapted from", or "I'm sure it'll be fine if I substitute half the ingredients" categories. But I'd like to keep track of those sources, whether it be from just the right Google search or from a physical cookbook.

    And yes, I've got lots of cookbooks. At the one end I've got basics like Joy of Cooking and Fannie Farmer, and at the other end I've got various cookbooks from second hand or thrift stores, plus a smattering of regional cuisines purchased while traveling. While I like nothing better to sit down with piles of cookbooks all around me, engrossed in reading and dreaming of food, it's not very practical to a) easily find a recipe amongst dozens of cookbooks or b) to share that recipe. Where's my digital index for my physical cookbooks?!

    I tried to solve my dilemma a while back by building my own recipe website. It does a passable of sharing links to recipes I've found elsewhere, and a pretty terrible job at inputting recipes with full ingredients and instructions. And, I really don't need to be maintaining yet-another-website.

    So over the holidays, I again began looking for a great place to make my "digital recipe home".

    My first stop was at Foodista. It's a startup out of Seattle that's just barely a year old, run by a friend of a friend. Foodista is unique in being a kind of Wikipedia of cooking. You can set recipes to be public, which means that anyone can edit and evolve them, whether that means fixing mistakes, clarifying the directions, or adding a note that Brand X flour needs to be used differently. I love this feature, and I love the concept of seeing the history or changes of recipes over time.

    They also have a widget that links blogs to recipes and vice versa (similar to Urbanspoon). Here's an example of a Foodista widget for my favourite Czechoslovakian Cabbage Soup recipe: Czechoslovakian Cabbage Soup (Nutbread & Nostalgia) on Foodista

    Foodista is still relatively new and will be evolving more features (check out my taste profile). I've already left a comment about making it easy to link in my own photos from Flickr.

    Next stop was our own local recipe / learning website, Rouxbe. I've got an account from ages ago, and couldn't recall if they actually let you enter in your own recipes. They do, so I started work on entering in Shredded Short Ribs with BBQ sauce that I made over the holidays. At first, I was excited by the interface, which lets you upload a photo for each step. Ultimately, I gave up before completing and publishing the recipe, because there were too many fields and too much to fill out.

    I think Rouxbe has a great interface for longer recipes, especially those with unfamiliar or complicated techniques (many of which they have video tutorials for that you can link in), and I would definitely use it for that kind of recipe. They even have a "Save as Draft" feature to make it easier to finish inputting those long recipes. Here's the embed for the Chicken Marsala that I used a screenshot of at the beginning of this post - the embed is gorgeous, but at the same time doesn't show the ingredients (which is what *I* would want out of a widget) and busts out of this blog layout: http://rouxbe.com/embedded_player.swf

    Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

     

    So, Foodists, help me with my recipe dilemma: What recipe sites do you frequent? How do you share / keep track of recipes that you find online? What features do you want out of an ultimate recipe website? And yes, I'm still contemplating building my own -- recipes.foodists.ca anyone? :P

    → 8:10 PM, Dec 31   •  cooking, recipes, Foodista, Foodists, Food, Rouxbe, Blog
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