Tag Archive: Vegetables

John Ash at the Cookbook Co. Cooks

November 4, 2013

Foodies in Calgary are fortunate to have the Cookbook Co. Cooks. Over the years Gail Norton and her team managed to put Calgary on the culinary map attracting cookbook authors, famous chefs and food professionals from across Canada and the US to their cooking school at 722, 11th Ave. SW. Along with their City Palate magazine, the Cookbook Co. is definitely the place to go for all things culinary in Alberta and beyond. Tuscan chicken... View Article

Homemade Vegetable Chips

October 30, 2013

Sometimes I am in the mood for potato chips. It’s hard to avoid them altogether.  If I happen to have a bag of good chips at home I am not beyond getting into it it once in a while. However, here is a better version of chips, using variety of vegetables to create a lovely melange of vegetable chips with or without oil. Commercial potato chips, after a few handfuls they lose the appeal and... View Article

On a Spoon: Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Salad with Goat Cheese Mousse

October 20, 2013

I  recently jumped on the bandwagon for spoon appetizers, I wonder where they started. I liked the idea right away, when they first came into vogue, but it took me a while to follow this trend. Once I begun making them though, I was hooked. Yesterday I had the opportunity to make some pre-dinner appetizers and my inspiration was a lunch at Noble Ridge Vineyard and Winery prepared by Chef Darin Patterson of Bogner of Penticton restaurant.... View Article

Roasted Red Grapes and Brussels Sprouts

October 20, 2013

People for some reason have a love-hate relations with brussels sprouts. They either love them or hate them. I was asked by a hostess recently to bring vegetables to a pot luck dinner and was told in no uncertain terms Not to bring brussels sprouts. Why is it I wonder that such a lovely veggie is so maligned. They are beautiful to look at, have significant health benefits, are easy to cook and at least... View Article

Wild Mushrooms and Potato Ragout

October 10, 2013

I am still buying wild mushrooms, can you blame me? They are in season. I am going on a mushroom foraging day soon with my friend Val of More Than Burnt Toast (Laura of An Uneducated Palate, when are you joining us?). Val and I have been everywhere this fall, attending restaurant openings, going to vineyard dinners, attending food and wine events, visiting wineries, eating at inetresting places and taking pictures, pictures and more pictures. We... View Article

Black Bean Soup

October 8, 2013

Chances are if you drop by there would be a soup simmering in a copper pot at the back of the stove in my kitchen, its fragrance wafting throughout the house. ‘Tis the season as they say. Fall is a perfect time for a bowl of warm, steamy soup. I love making soups and they make a lovely and satisfying simple meal at the end of the day with good bread and maybe a crisp... View Article

Sweet Potato Orange Waffles with Orange Cinnamon Sauce

October 5, 2013

Fall mornings are a fabulous thing. Who invented them? Morning hot chocolate on the patio is ever more enticing as we watch the fog lifts slowly off the lake to reveal the beautiful silver blue of early morning. Although we know it is coming, fall seems to arrive suddenly. One morning it’s summer, the next morning it’s fall. “Don’t remember summer even saying goodbye” says David Mitchel in Cloud Atlas. Suddenly the days are shorter and... View Article

Potatoes and Chanterelles Gratin

September 29, 2013

I have already talked about the abundance of wild mushrooms at the market right now. This is the thing about seasonal cooking. The season is short and if you want to enjoy the bounty it means using the same ingredients in different ways for a while until…….. The King is dead long live the King….and new produce dominates the market stalls. I have featured wild mushrooms in Stuffed Zucchini, quesadillas and risotto and today in this gratin... View Article

Roasted Baby vegetables with Honey Balsamic Glaze

September 26, 2013

Inspired by dinner at Xocolat – Posh Mexican Cuisine in Calgary, Alberta        We had dinner in Calgary the other day at a fabulous restaurant serving Mexican food. Don’t jump into conclusions too fast. This is not the place to go for a quick taco and refried beans under a sombrero with a Mariachi band playing Besame Mucho in the corner. As it’s name suggests Xocolat Posh Mexican Cuisine serves traditional Mexican foods but with a modern high end flare. The result is gorgeous... View Article

Roasted cauliflower and couscous with tomatoes, olive oil, lemon and garlic

September 25, 2013

Couscous is a useful grain, lending itself as a base to many vegetables and legumes or good on its own with tomatoes, herbs and lemony-garlicy dressing. Couscous has mediterranean origin,  made from semolina, a product of cracked durum wheat. The type available here is mostly the instant couscous, grains that have been previously steamed and dried. You add the couscous to boiling water to which a little oil and salt have been added, then remove... View Article

Quesadillas with wild mushrooms, corn and black beans

September 21, 2013

Mexican food has been part of my repertoire for a long time. I enjoy the earthy flavours, simplicity, colours and aromas of this cuisine. I am just now replacing some of the Mexican cookbooks that I had before, and already have a few books by the incomparable Diana Kennedy (the Grand Dame of Mexican Cuisine), the modern and innovative Rick Bayless of  the Fronterra fame and a few other books for information and inspiration. Diana Kennedy,... View Article

Summer Zucchini Stuffed with Risotto and Wild Mushrooms

September 20, 2013

My fridge is overflowing with produce from the market. I can’t help myself when I go to the market and in spite of good intentions (“I am just going to see what they have”) I come back with bags and bags of beautiful seasonal produce. How can I not? I speak with the vendors who grow the produce themselves and then what? Just leave without buying? I don’t think so. And, think of the lovely... View Article