July 30, 2018

Roasted fresh garlic and garlic butter

  Summer garlic is wonderful to roast and use in dips or mix with butter for garlic butter. It has a fresh flavour, different than when it is dried for winter storage. I use it as a base for pizza , not too much, just a few smears on the dough before drizzling with sauce, on crostini, in pasta dishes, add to cheese platter or serve on its own with bread and let people squeeze out the... View Article

July 28, 2018

Potato Salad with Green and Yellow Beans

Potato salad is a signature item for me and when I have company I almost always have a big dish of potato salad ready to serve when family or friends arrive. It’s an easy dish to make and flexible in terms of the ingredients you put in it. This time I had green and yellow beans so I used them but have used other ingredients in other salads. I also like adding crisp romaine to the... View Article

July 26, 2018

Tempura: asparagus and yam

I have been having a lot of fun in the kitchen and lately also trying dishes I have never made before. We recently spent a week in the BC mountains hiking and biking (Sun Peaks, post to come) and our days consisted of all day hikes (or biking) and then dinner at night at one of the several restaurants in the small Austrian style village. Food mostly left some to be desired except for one... View Article

July 24, 2018

Beetroot patch

    Summer beets are a special treat, especially when you get them small and tender. This is a pretty and refreshing salad using the beets in a few different ways. I cooked the beets sous vide but you can roast them to equally delicious results. I then marinated them in a little olive oil and balsamic crema to impart sweet and tangy flavour. I then made a light mayo style dressing to which I... View Article

July 21, 2018

Fondant Potatoes

So we are back at home from a hiking adventure here in BC and I am in the mood to cook again after eating out for an entire week in the mountains with varying degrees of success (more on that later). Since I am addicted to Australia Masterchef and was catching up on a few episodes I missed while I was gone I noticed that they often make fondant potatoes that look beautiful on their... View Article

July 20, 2018

Exploring our own back yard: The Sunshine coast

After traveling the world for a few years now I thought that here we are flying all over the world while our own backyard in BC is so beautiful and I haven’t yet seen it all. A few weeks ago we had an opportunity to travel to the coast and decided to add a few days to begin exploring the vast sunshine Coast with its islands, inlets, beachfront homes and local food. The Sunshine Coast is part... View Article

July 8, 2018

Grilled cabbage salad with citrus dressing

Cabbage salads are so versatile and fun to make. They go well with creamy or tangy dressing and you can combine them with other shredded vegetables for a colourful salad that looks beautiful on the plate. Today I thought I’d grill some of the cabbage, combine it with fresh and crisp shredded cabbage and dress it with citrusy dressing and orange segments. I had a similar salad at Char Bar in Calgary a few weeks ago and... View Article

July 6, 2018

No Knead Ciabatta Bread

Bread baking is incredibly satisfying, making something so delicious and soul-satisfying out of “nothing” (other than flour water yeast and salt). True, it takes a bit of skill and experience but isn’t this how it is with everything worth doing? Bread takes time to make, require rest between kneading or stretching and even an overnight slumber in the cool refrigerator benefits the dough and develops flavour and texture. The fridge can also help if you have... View Article

July 3, 2018

Lemon-Lavender Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

  Whenever we have overnight company I tend to prepare a simple bundt cake that I can leave on the counter and guests can help themselves to without a lot of fuss. Sometimes it is a banana cake, often a chocolate cake and my personal favourite is a lemon cake. This lavender cake is a variation on the basic lemon cake with the addition of fragrant lavender that grows in abundance in my pesticide-free rooftop... View Article

June 28, 2018

Roasted Asian Eggplant with Homemade Teriyaki

Remembering a dish I had at a restaurant a while ago I thought I’d try to make something similar at home. The dish was an elongated Asian eggplant, cut in half and roasted with a sticky, sweet and spicy sauce similar to teriyaki. Rather than buy a bottle of the sauce which would be full of artificial ingredients, I thought I’d try to make it myself. The sticky-gooey sauce was quite good so onto these pages... View Article

June 5, 2018

Rice and vegetables pilaf

Often when I cook rice I make extra and use the leftover rice in a pilaf a day or two later. It’s a good way to use up odds and ends of veggies that are lingering but are still beautiful, fresh and crisp. A classic pilaf is rice sautéed in oil with aromatics and then cooked in flavoured broth with vegetables or non-vegetarian proteins. My method here is different, sautéeing vegetables first and then adding... View Article

June 3, 2018

Ravioli with potatoes. mushroom sauce and fried sage leaves

  Pasta, pasta, pasta. I can eat it every day although not necessarily with such a rich sauce. Today I was in the mood for ravioli and wanted to try a potato filling instead of the usual ricotta. I also had mushrooms and asparagus that I needed to use as we are off to another “exploring our BC backyard” adventure in the Sunshine Coast so this was an opportunity to use them in a sauce... View Article