Once in a while I get out of my comfort zone and try cooking a different cuisine. Today is flavours of India and with the help of a couple of cookbooks I came up with this dish as well as a red lentil dal that I will post next. The curry is inspired by Vij’s at Home cookbook, I had to simplify as I didn’t have all the ingredients and anyway, I always adapt recipes. This... View Article
Ingredients: Cake: 5 oz dark chocolate, chopped 6 tablespoons butter 5 tablespoons brown sugar 3 egg yolks 1/2 cup walnut pieces 3 tablespoons all purpose flour 3 egg whites 2 cups pitted cherries for cake Cherry sauce: 2 cups pitted cherries for sauce 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice Kirch cream: 1 cup whipping cream 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon kirsch Directions: Butter and flour an 8 inch cake pan with removable bottom and... View Article
Needless to say, I can eat pasta every day, love it and I never tire of a good pasta dish. One of my favourite sauces is a nut based pesto. In the summer, while I have beautiful fresh flat leaf parsley growing in my rooftop garden I try to use it as much as possible and a pesto is one of the best way to feature it. The combination of walnuts and parsley is perfect in this recipe.... View Article
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
