If you have been wanting to buy some of those gorgeous green gooseberries but are not sure what to do with them, let me help you out. First of all, make yourself some gooseberry jam. Hands down my favourite jam in the universe! But definitely, definitely make sure you save some berries to make a jar (or
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July 28, 2012
Spiced Gooseberry Chutney
July 23, 2012
Sour Cherry Cobbler with Almond
This is how much I love sour cherries: 1. When my parents’ sour cherry tree died of a horrible tree disease several years ago, I cried and held a private tree funeral service in my head. 2. I kept my last jar of frozen sour cherries from that tree for four years because I didn’t
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June 30, 2012
What to do with Garlic Scapes
These crazy vegetables – long coiled green things – show up in the farmers’ markets in June. “Garlic scapes,” say the hand-written signs. Sounds good, but what does a person do with garlic scapes in the kitchen? Scapes are the green stems of the garlic plants, trimmed in the spring to prevent their blooms from
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February 20, 2012
Olive Oil Tasting
“Operation Use-It-Up” has lost some momentum these last three weeks – weeks in which more food made it into my freezer than came out of it. Sigh… However, I will persevere. In the meantime, let’s check out this fun thing I did at a cooking class two weeks ago. AN OLIVE OIL TASTE TEST!
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December 31, 2011
Favourite Food Memories of Italy
Before the year is out, I want to round up the chronicles of my European trip. I had imagined that I would have luxurious amounts of time while I was travelling to blog about the trip, but I didn’t. I’ve had even less time since I’ve been back home. But it would not feel right
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September 19, 2011
Coronation Grape Clafouti
Clafouti is the kind of word, I swear, that chefs love to use to cast a veil of mystery over the simplest of recipes. Actually, I’m only saying this because I made two delicious clafoutis this week and everyone who tasted them said pretty much the same thing: “A… Cla-footie? I have never heard of
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August 30, 2011
Fresh Methi, aka Fenugreek Greens
One thing I have been quietly excited about all summer is that I have been able to buy Methi, FRESH, by the bunch, whenever I feel like it. At the grocery store! You have to understand that, until this year, methi (aka fresh fenugreek) was the Indian ingredient I was most unlikely to find, ever.
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August 8, 2011
Farm Fresh Lasagne
“Fresh” is not the first word that comes to my mind when I think of lasagne. But a stay at KilrennyFarm in the Cowichan valley changed my mind completely. I taught an Indian cooking class at Kilrenny Farm last month and was charmed by Deborah and Russel Fahlman’s enthusisam for their produce, their new teaching kitchen, and
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August 2, 2011
Tayberry Jam
The lady who gave me my first tayberry (years ago) told me that tayberries were a heritage variety of bramble berry, known back in the old country for making excellent pies and jam. That sounded good to me. The berries certainly have an undefinable tart-floral flavour which shines more when cooked. I easily imagined the tayberry
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July 12, 2011
Cilantro Root Season
Of all the wonderful fruits and vegetables that are coming into season, cilantro root is the one that I am most excited about right now (sorry, dear cherries). Cilantro Root has a delicious herbal flavour, packs a powerful cilantro punch without being too cilantro-y, and is an essential ingredient in all kinds of Thai recipes. And it’s in season
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