October 18, 2015
Cut the squash in half and remove seeds and pulp. Cut the squash into wedges. Place the wedges on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the sugar and salt. Roast in a preheated 400F oven untilk the flesh is tender and golden. Remove from oven and arrange on a serving platter. Sprinkle thyme leaves over and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar or crema. Serve warm.
October 15, 2015
How do you get ready for a trip? We are counting down the days to our upcoming four months stay in Italy. There is of course the usual preparation: reserving accommodation, car rental, opera and concerts tickets, arranging cooking classes and booking truffle hunt excursion, not to mention olive oil tasting, visits to the wineries and cheese making farms. But, I tend to do more than just that. Long before we leave on a trip... View Article
October 12, 2015
A little after the fact but still relevant because it’s seasonal. We celebrated Thanks Giving with family here in Kelowna and I was asked to bring vegetables for about 20 people. Vegetables are my “thing” so I was happy to help with that dish. I had in mind a large dish of roasted vegetables, mixing a variety of fall vegetables – roots, squashes and others – and roasting them with olive oil, salt and a... View Article
October 9, 2015
A while ago I posted a recipe for a no knead bread and thought I’d show you a variation, adding chopped olives and herbs to the dough to make it a little different. I have to admit that this no knead method took me by surprise the first time I tried it but it has become my go to method for baking bread. The flavour develops beautifully over the long, 18h fermentation, the crust is... View Article
October 2, 2015
Well, back to cooking: many people who love to cook can be divided in two camps: those who love to cook and those who love to bake. I fall somewhere in the middle and really love to do both. Earlier in my cooking endeavour I used to bake a lot and fairly challenging “stuff” like complicated cakes, croissants, all kinds of breads, cookies etc. Now I still bake but simpler things like cookies,... View Article
September 27, 2015
My mental image of an ideal kitchen is one with a pot of soup simmering on the back burner with the warm, inviting aromas wafting in the air, making a house feel like home. My favourite pot to cook soups in is the French enamelled cast iron Le Creuset, and no, they are not paying me to say this. I have some beautiful copper pots that would look beautiful filled with soup, but then I... View Article
September 25, 2015
I am alone at home for the week but that doesn’t keep me away from the kitchen. Sometime in my evolution as a wife and a mother I fell in love with cooking and begun an affair with my kitchen. I was lucky to have a wonderful, warm and comfortable kitchen at Trail’s End (our previous home) where I could acquire culinary skills, express my artistic abilities and develop a style of my own. As in... View Article
September 23, 2015
I have had a couple of dinners out this week and both times selected the gnocchi dishes on the menu. One of these was at Waterfront Wines, probably my choice for top restaurant in Kelowna. Chef Mark Filatow works his magic in the kitchen and it’s always special to go there. The dish I ordered was not called gnocchi, it was described as house made ricotta cavatelli with grana padano and sage brown butter and... View Article
September 21, 2015
I cook with seeds and grains often and thought I’d make something with quinoa for dinner. A trip to a produce stand nearby yielded a beautiful, lush shallot and a bunch of carrots that were so fresh the soil was still clinging to them. I wanted to keep things simple so I cooked the shallot in a little olive oil, added the quinoa and stirred to get it coated with the oil. I then cooked... View Article
September 17, 2015
Pasta is a comfort foods that I turn to again and again. I have learned to make simple pasta dishes with only a couple of ingredients that taste good and leave you satisfied. This particular dish makes use of the purple radicchio that we usually tear or shred into into a salad. It has a slightly bitter taste and a sturdy texture that stand up to a quick saute and goes particularly well with simple... View Article
September 17, 2015
Fresh peas have a short season and I wasn’t expecting to find any on my last market trip but what do you know, here they were. They looked crisp and fresh so I bought a large bag and brought them home. I sat with a bowl like an old fashioned mamma and shelled the cute little peas wondering what to do with them. By the time I finished shelling I knew they were going into... View Article
September 10, 2015
This was one of the best corn season I remember in the Okanagan. Almost every day I picked up delicate and sweet cobs of corn with pearly, crispy, juicy kernels at local markets, still cool from early morning picking. It was a memorable treat all summer and I have not tired of it yet. My quickest and easiest method for cooking corn is in the microwave. I place the husked cobs in a sturdy ceramic... View Article
