March 2, 2015

Basic Recipe: Soft Polenta with Parmesan

I hear the temperatures have dropped in Canada so I thought I’d post a recipe for a nice warm, soft polenta to warm you up. Polenta is cooked cornmeal and not exclusive to Italian cooking, as anyone who has had grits or mamaliga (Romanian cornmeal porridge) or corn pudding knows. The simplest way to make polenta is to cook it with water or stock until the grains are soft and plump and this takes a... View Article

March 2, 2015

Fermented pancakes – vegan, no oil, no eggs, no dairy, no sugar

A healthier alternative to regular pancakes that are loaded with eggs, butter, sugar and dairy, this easy recipe calls for mixing flour and water and letting it sit covered for several hours or overnight before cooking. The flour ferments and lightens with the air bubbles and the pancakes are surprisingly light and delicious. This morning I used half white flour and half garbanzo flour because that was what I had in the pantry but I... View Article

March 1, 2015

Seitan – vegan gluten patties with shitake-herb sauce

  The title image is recent – seitan and broccoli stir fry. the rest is from 2015….   Once in a while I crave these high protein gluten patties that are quite popular in vegetarian and vegan cooking. Seitan (pronounced Say-Tahn, a strange name) is made from wheat gluten and has texture and flavour reminiscent of poultry or meat. The original method for making seitan involved making a dough with regular flour and rinsing it... View Article

February 26, 2015

Warm kale and mushrooms salad

Kale salads took the culinary world by a storm and all of a sudden every trendy chef was offering kale salads on their menu. Suddenly, or so it seemed, there were curly kale and black kale and red kale and Russian kale available to us and we jumped on the food trend bandwagon. Kale has a strong flavour a sturdy texture and needs some help making it into a salad. We chopped, ribboned, even massaged... View Article

February 25, 2015

Chocolate and caramelized nuts cookies

If you are wavering between the crispy and chewy cookie camps then these cookies are for you. Crispy, chewy, delicious and very quick to make, these would please both sides. This dough can serve as a base for whatever embellishments you may wish to try. You make the dough and then fold in the extras by hand. I have made these cookies with candied ginger, white chocolate, chopped dates, dried cherries and dried cranberries to... View Article

February 22, 2015

Pear and gorgonzola flatbread

I am on a bit of a roll here in the kitchen. I should spend as much time exercising. I had pizza dough that I purchased from a local Italian market in the freezer and took it out last night  to thaw overnight  in the fridge. This afternoon I rolled it out and made a simple pizza with tomatoes and basil and this little pear and gorgonzola flatbread just for fun, no special occasion. Pear... View Article

February 19, 2015

Blood Orange Marmalade

After enjoying Seville orange marmalade right in Seville, Spain, I came home craving the chunky bittersweet marmalade for my morning toast or croissant. I brought some of the marmalade back with me but it’s now long gone. I planned to get some thick skinned oranges and make a batch of simple marmalade that I can put in jars and keep in the fridge (serious canning is not for me). However, when I went out to... View Article

February 18, 2015

Roasted cauliflower with chickpeas, pine nuts and tahini sauce

A while ago I attended a special dinner at Mission Hill Winery in Kelowna. The dinner was held in their Chagall room where a long table was set with linen, flowers and crystal and dinner was served family style. The Chef served a dish of roasted cauliflower and chickpeas that was just my kind of food. I adapted it to my vegetarian cooking style omitting the prosciutto that he draped over the dish. I didn’t... View Article

February 17, 2015

Olive-walnut biscuit bites – vegan

You know what it’s like coming back from an extended vacation. It’s great to be home and if you are like me, you are looking forward to your own food again. As good as food is when you travel, the familiarity of one’s own kitchen and food is always welcoming and comforting. I have been making very simple foods since we have come back. Clean and flavourful vegetable soups made only with vegetables, no grains... View Article

February 15, 2015

Yucatan: Merida and Progresso

I have been to Merida before but this time it was a little different. I think that visiting a place a second time is so much more interesting. You are less of a tourist then and can immerse yourself deeper in the life and culture of the place. We drove to Merida to take a cooking class at Los Dos cooking school but this is not all we did. This time we explored the gorgeous... View Article

February 3, 2015

Black Bean Soup with Cotija and Crema

I often have cooked beans on hand (in the fridge or freezer) and use them to make either a soup or refried beans or some other bean dish. You can make this recipe with uncooked beans as I instruct below, or use already cooked beans, sauteeing the vegetables, adding the beans and stock and continuing to cook and puree. To soak or not to soak? I have read various articles (here, here and here) with opinions spanning... View Article

February 1, 2015

Breakfast at the Rosewood Mayakoba and Mexican papaya with quick granola and yogurt

You may have noticed by now that breakfast for me is a ritual. I like to linger over a beautifully prepared and presented breakfast either at home or out and, if possible, by the beach. My internal GPS leads me to all the beautiful places that serve breakfast wherever we are in the world. One of my favourite on the Mayan Riviera, although not on the beach, is breakfast at the Casa de Lago at... View Article