French Onion Soup

Rich Beef Stock

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Epicurious French Onion Soup

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The dusty old soup bowl set that has sat in our cupboard unused for 4 years

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a) soup too delicious to stop and take a picture of the result

b) s(o)uper yumminess

c) not nearly as much soup as we expected, given all the onion

d) something we will definitely make again
e) all of the above

the correct answer is e.

Veggie Burger Hash and Cabbage Slaw

I have happened upon an accidental creation which turned out to be quite delicious... here's what happened.

1. The night before we were talking about how yummy lettuce wraps are.
2. We had just returned from vacation and had very little food in the fridge.
3. I had a supply of frozen beet and carrot veggie burgers in the freezer.
4. I got distracted while heating the veggie burgers in a cast iron frying pan, and the next thing I knew they were rather blackened on the one side.
5. In my hurry to flip the burgers, one of them fell to pieces and became a mess of veggie burger bits.
6. We had half a cabbage and some cilantro in the fridge, and ilan LOVES cabbage.
... suddenly, it all came together and inspiration struck!

I shaved up the cabbage, tossed it with cilantro and a light dressing of rice vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper.  I put this mixture in the bottom of a couple of bowls to make little nests then topped it with the fallen apart, extra-crispy veggie burger hash.  So easy to make (provided you have some of the burgers on hand) and super delish!

 

Here's a recipe:

Ingredients 

(serves 2 - scale as you'd like):

2, 3, or 4 Baked Beet-and-Carrot Burgers, depending on their size and how hungry you are (it's fine if they're frozen at this point)
1/4 head of cabbage
as much cilantro as you'd like (about a half bunch?)
2-3 tbs olive oil
2-3 tbs rice vinegar (or other light vinegar such as apple cider)
salt and pepper to taste
sugar to taste  (about 1/2 tsp)

Directions

1. Put a little oil in a frying pan and heat veggies burgers over medium heat with a lid on.  Once they are browned or lightly blackened on the one side, you will flip them over, fry them a bit more, and break them up into bits.  Fry enough that some of the bits get a little crispy-toasty.
2. Meanwhile as the burgers are cooking, finely slice the cabbage like you would for coleslaw.  Chop up the cilantro.  Combine the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar into a salad dressing.  Toss cabbage with cilantro and dressing in a large bowl.
3. Arrange the cabbage mixture in serving bowls into a nest shape.  Divide the veggie burger scramble into the nests and serve warm.

Beety nutty salad

I go through phases when it comes to salads... this is my latest obsession!

Salad

• lettuce
• toasted slivered almonds and sunflower seeds (I don't normally like sunflower seeds, but they definitely add something to this salad!)
• grated beets or beets and carrots (in the salad pictured above I used golden beets and no carrots but any combo of beetiness and carroty-ness is great)
•  thinly sliced bell peppers
• feta cheese if you happen to have it
• whatever else you feel like putting in there - it's a salad, it's flexible! 

Dressing

• roughly equal parts oil and apple cider vinegar (to match the rest of the ingredients here, say about 1/3 cup each)
• a large teaspoon full of honey 
• a small clove of minced garlic
• 1/8 tsp grainy dijon mustard (since I don't like mustard I put very little)
• salt + pepper

Baked Beet-and-Carrot Burgers

This recipe came to me via family in Portland.. I'm not sure exactly what the origial source is.  They are some of the best veggie burgers I've had though! Last time we made them, we did a huge batch (grating all those beets and carrots by hand was a major pain, so this time we'll be using our new food processor).  We froze a whole bunch of them and could always have a quick and easy meal by popping a couple of them into a frying pan!

Ingredients

butter for greasing baking sheet or some parchment paper
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 cups peeled, grated beets (about 1-2 med beets)
2 cups grated carrots (about 4 carrots)
1/2 minced onion (about 1/2 onion)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
3 tbs flour
2 tbs soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a baking sheet (we line with parchment paper, which we then use as separators between the patties when we freeze them)

2. Place a small heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and stir them in the dry skillet until lightly browned and fragrant (about 3-5 minutes) - careful not to burn them! Remove from heat and transfer to a dish to cool.

3. Toast the sunflower seeds in the same way you did the sesame seeds.  Add them to the dish containing the cooling sesame seeds.

4. Combine the beets, carrots, and onions in a large bowl, then add all of the other ingredients.  Mix well.  You will probably need to get your hands in there!

5. Form patties, squishing out excess liquid as you do, and place them on the prepared baking sheet.  The recipe says it makes 12.

6. Bake until brown around the edges - about 20 mins.  You probably don't need to, but you could flip them partway through cooking.

Enjoy on buns with you favourite toppings or just on their own with some salad or steamed veggies on the side.

When life gives you too many apples...

... make Apple Rings!

We don't have a peeler/corer but that's not an issue:
#1: I kinda like apple rings that have their skins on, so the peeling wasn't an issue.
#2: The spout of a Ceres juice box makes an excellent corer, as long as you slice your apples first.

The result: rings of deliciousness!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

I'm going to make these again today since the ones I made the other day vanished so quickly!
Based on http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/blueberry-oatmeal-muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup (8 ounces) plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Combine the egg, yogurt and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.
2. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter. Bake at 400° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

 

Vietnamese-style Hot and Sour Chicken Soup

Poor ilan is sick so yesterday in Vancouver we found him some Vietnamese hot and sour soup for lunch.  It was super yum, so today I decided to try to make something similar at home.  I pulled ideas from a whole bunch of different recipes and websites and here's what I ended up doing (roughly)...

Ingredients (prep everything first)

- 3 tbs minced garlic
- white part of two lemongrass stalks, sliced finely and minced
- 2 red chili peppers with seeds, finely sliced and minced (this made for spicy soup! Use 1 if you want it milder and/or remove seeds)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- some mushrooms (I think I used 7-8 creminis), quartered
- 3 celery stalks, cut into about 1cm long slices
- 1/2 head green cabbage, sliced into strips (next time I might leave it in somewhat bigger chunks)
- 3 large tomatoes, cut into 6-8 chunks
(You could use different veggies than the above if you like!)
- 1 can of pineapple tidbits
- 1/4 cup fish sauce plus a little more
- about 650mL of chicken broth (we had a yogourt container full in the freezer)
- if you have it, 2 tbs tamarind (I'm sure the soup would be fine even if you don't happen to have this on hand)
- about 1 cup boiling water to prep the tamarind
- fresh herbs for garnish: I used basil (even though I only had a wee bit), mint, and cilantro (could also use some spring onion, possibly even some fresh oregano)

Directions

1. Prep tamarind.  Put the tamarind paste in a bowl and add the boiling water.  Let sit about 15 minutes so tamarind softens.  Press the tamarind and water through a fine sieve into another bowl to extract as much tamarindyness as you can then discard the remaining tamarind chunks.

2. Prep the chicken. Slice the raw chicken across the grain into roughly 1/2cm thick slices.  Put in a bowl with some fish sauce and ground pepper then cover and put it in the fridge until you're ready for it.

3. In a large heavy bottomed soup pot, saute 2/3 of the garlic with the chili peppers and 2/3 of the lemon grass in some olive oil and/or schmaltz.  Once everything is nice and fragrant (about 30s), add 1/4 cup of fish sauce and cook for 2 minutes to reduce it.  Yes, it will smell intensely fishy.

4. Add the chicken stock and tamarind juice to the soup pot, adding a little extra water to help you get everything out of the bowls.  I'd add at least a cup or two of water at this stage.  You can also throw in the lemongrass tops in larger chunks if you like.  Bring to a boil.

5. Add the can of pineapple with juice and again rinse the can with water to get it all.  Add the chopped veggies (in my case, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, and the tomatoes - I added the tomatoes a little later than everything else and maybe should have waited longer than I did).  Reduce to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes (maybe less).

6. While the soup is simmering, heat some oil/schmaltz in a frying pan and add the remaining garlic and minced lemongrass.  Fry till fragrant (30s) then add a couple tbs of fish sauce.  Again, let it cook a minute or two to reduce down but not so much that everything starts sticking to the pan.  Add the sliced chicken and cook until just cooked through (about 4 mins).

7. Add the chicken to the soup, check to make sure everything is sufficiently cooked, and turn off the heat.

8. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh herbs.  Eat and enjoy!

ilan says: "If this soup doesn't cure me, nothing will!"