If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, it’s no secret that I love breakfast for dinner. There is something about those typical morning foods that seem to soothe and calm me. Just think about it. By the end of the day, when we’re feeling tired and a little bit overwhelmed, we need some serenity. I think there is also some sort of illicit pleasure in breaking the rules. I’m an adult now, and I can eat breakfast for dinner if I want!
When I saw Tim Robinson’s recipe for “Hearty Kale breakfast Bowl” on thefeedfeed.com, I knew I wanted to have it for dinner. I adapted his recipe slightly, adding in some butternut squash and seasoning it with smoked paprika and garlic. It takes about 35 minutes to roast the potatoes and squash, but during that time, you can prepare the other bowl ingredients.
The bitterness of the kale is perfectly balanced by the fatty richness of creamy avocado and oozy egg yolk. The cubes of potato and squash turn into crispy little nuggets. Crumbled feta adds a hit of salt. Don’t skimp on the red pepper flakes! This dish hits all the right notes.
Tim suggests using leftover grains instead of the potatoes. Farro, barley or rice would be excellent substitutions.
Let’s ease into this new season together, gently. No to boots and sweaters just yet, but I will encourage you to turn on the oven and roast some butternut squash. If you’re intimidated by a whole butternut, I’ve got you covered. Here’s an old video I made showing you the safest way to get the job done.
https://youtu.be/lMvnojo8S64
I like to dice the squash quite small for this salad. Little cubes, about 1/4 inch in size is perfect. Be patient and methodical, it will be worth it. Tiny pieces cook more quickly, plus, when all that surface area makes contact with a screaming hot pan, the result is lots of little crispy bits. Toss diced squash with some olive oil, salt and pepper and a few sprigs of fresh thyme and roast at 400°F.
I love to pair the squash with Israeli couscous (also known as pearl couscous). Israeli couscous is technically not a grain, but rather a pasta. Made from wheat flour and semolina, it is toasted, rather than dried. The easiest way to cook it is in lots of boiling salted warter, just like any other pasta. Cook it until it’s al dente. Part of the charm of Israeli couscous is the chewy, bouncy texture.
The squash and couscous are quite bland, so they need an assertive dressing to make it come alive. My vinegar of choice is sherry vinegar (labelled vinaigre de Jerez). It’s more rounded and complex than red wine or apple cider vinegar and way less cloying than balsamic. It has a crisp, bright acidity with lots of nuttiness and some caramel undertones. Don’t buy anything labelled “cooking sherry”. That’s not the same thing. My favourite brand sells for about $12 a bottle and it’s commonly sold in higher end grocery stores. In Ottawa I buy it at Herb and Spice. If you can’t find it, red wine vinegar would work quite well in this salad.
My green of choice for this salad is arugula. It’s peppery bite is perfect with the bland couscous and the sweet squash. A sprinkling of deeply toasted hazelnuts adds a welcome crunch. Any leftovers keep well in the fridge for 1-2 days.
A funny thing happens when your adult children come home for a visit. In July, my daughter moved into the cottage with me for most of the summer. I was thrilled about it, as we live in different cities, and I don’t get to see her as much as I’d like.
The kitchen starts filling up with things you don’t recall buying. My fridge boasted 3 varieties of kombucha, (cosmic cranberry, ginger berry and multi-green) 2 packages of probiotic capsules (for making non-dairy coconut yogurt), Croatian organic artisan chocolate (that tasted like wax, to my palate) and Skyr, which I’m still not sure how to pronounce properly.
The tea drawer (yes, we have an entire drawer devoted to tea), filled up with several varieties of ginger tea as well as some turmeric concoction. The pantry shelves featured 2 flavours of muesli, collagen powder and All-Dressed Chips.
One morning I opened my spice drawer and saw a rogue shaped jar of something called New Bae Seasoning. I decant all my spices into the same shape jar, and file them alphabetically. Please don’t judge me, it’s how I keep my serenity.When I asked my daughter about it she excitedly told me that it’s a blend of different spices (Himalayan Pink Salt, Paprika, Celery, Black Pepper, Ancho Chili Powder, Cayenne, Cardamom, Allspice, Mace, Bay Leaves), and makes everything you put it on taste better. That night we sprinkled some on diced sweet potatoes and roasted them. I was hooked. We used it all summer on fish, chicken and all our roasted and grilled veggies. It was even delicious sprinkled on top of hummus. When she left at the end of the summer, she took her jar with her, but left me the probiotic capsules!
I ordered my own jar, online at purefeast.com . A few other online retailers carry it as well, but they seem to be out of stock when I last checked.
Here’s how to make these delicious tartines (that’s french for open-faced sandwich, because we’re fancy around here!)
I used butternut squash and sliced it very thin. Use your favourite fall veggie. Roasted broccoli would also be delicious. Make sure you start with some really good bread and toast or grill it, so that it’s crunchy. I found a new bakery in my neighbourhood here in Ottawa that sells amazing artisan breads. If you’re in Ottawa, check our Mamie Clafouti’s on Richmond Rd. If you have an extra 15 minutes, make your own ricotta. I will include the recipe in the link below. But if time is tight, use store-bought. It will still be really good. Choose an assertive green to top your tartine with. I found micro arugula, but regular arugula or some shredded radicchio would be good choices. You want something bitter to counter balance the spicy-sweet squash and mild ricotta. A drizzle of honey is an excellent way to finish.
People tell my husband all the time how lucky he is. They imagine that being married to a food blogger is heaven, with something fresh and exciting for dinner every night. I’m here to dispell that image. I like to shoot in natural light. The optimal time for shooting in my kitchen is between 11 am -2 pm. By dinnertime, the food is cold and has been manhandled so much, nobody would want to eat it.
Often he will arrive home to a kitchen that looks like a tornado went through it. When I’m shooting, I try out different plates, bowls, and assorted props to get the right look. Those dishes pile up on the counter and in the sink. He generously and uncomplainingly washes those dishes. Curiously, he is opposed to drying dishes. He just likes to pile them up to let them air dry. But I’m not criticizing.
On days when I’m not shooting a new post, I’m just like you. I have a small repertoire of meals that I make on a weekly basis. Roasted squash is one of those items in the rotation. I either cut it into french fries or round circles. I always use butternut squash. I’m in a squash rut.
On a visit to the market last week, I was inspired to up my squash game and try some different varieties. The jade green ones with the light green stripes are Kabocha squash. They are a Japanese squash that is fairly new to North America. Kabocha squash has a delicate honeyed sweetness and a smooth, almost fiberless texture. No need to peel this baby as the skin is very thin and roasts up crispy and delicious.
The deep orange ones, that look like they are topped with a Turk’s turban are aptly named Turban Squash. They have so much personality. The taste is quite mild and the texture is floury, making it perfect for soups. Mostly it’s used as a decorative squash because it’s just so cute.
The smaller orange and yellow squash are known as Sweet Dumplings. Diminutive in size but mighty in flavour, these little guys are sweet and delicious. Bonus points because the skin is edible and you don’t have to peel them. I sliced a Kobacha and a Sweet Dumpling into wedges and removed the seeds.The October issue of delicious magazine was the source for this gorgeous dish. I adapted it slightly.
Once roasted the dish is garnished with toasted salted pumpkin seeds and pomegranate. I added some salty ricotta salata cheese, but feta or goat cheese would also be great. There are two sauces to drizzle on top. The first is a chermoula sauce, a spicy herb sauce often used in Moroccan cuisine.The second sauce is a tahini-based mixture. While you could certainly serve this without the sauces, they really elevate the dish to something special.
Last week I made a small change of my own, which, by the way, I have yet to see on any of these lists. We eat butternut squash at least once a week in our house. I always prepare it the same way. I cut it into sticks like french fries, drizzle on olive oil, salt, pepper and smoked paprika and roast it at 400°F for 45 minutes.
As I peeled the squash a crazy thought flitted through my brain. What if I changed the way I usually cut the squash? Wild, I know! I went rogue and cut thin circles.Those lists always advise you to take it slow and not to make too many changes at once, so I kept it consistent and mixed the squash with my usual combo of olive oil, salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Smoked paprika, if you’ve never used it, is fantastic. I won’t go so far as to say it’s life changing, but it is pretty damn amazing. It makes everything taste better. I put that shit on everything.I was actually surprised at how different the squash turned out from when I cut it into fries. The slices baked up more tender on the inside and crisper on the exterior. My squash fries never got golden brown like this. They were either limp and pale after 45 minutes or if I left them in longer, they burned. These circles were consistently golden brown with an outstanding texture.I’m not a scientist, but I think the reason for this difference is that the amount of surface area that was exposed to the heat of the oven was greater when the squash was cut into circles, vs. the fry shape, so the squash had better chance to release all its moisture before crisping up.
If you’re serving this to company, scatter a few pomegranate seeds on top and whip up a dip. Mix one small chipotle chile in adobo sauce (seeded and chopped fine) into 1/2 a cup of regular or light mayo. (Don’t use fat free).
Here’s a tip for what to do with the remainder of the chiles in the can. Take a few minutes to seed them all. Puree the seeded chiles in the food processor and then spread the paste out on a parchment lined baking sheet. Put it in the freezer until firm and then break it up into large pieces and store in a ziploc bag in the freezer. It will keep for months. Just break a small piece off whenever you need it. It defrosts very quickly. it’s great on chicken, fish and in rice.
Hope life is treating you well this week. We are in full-on purge mode around here. We’re planning to downsize shortly. It’s amazing the amount of junk you can accumulate in 23 years. Getting rid of stuff is not my husband’s forte. He still has all his high school essays. (He got an A+ in his Family Studies paper on “The cost of setting up a home for newlyweds” – it was the 70’s!) He kept all the cards from our wedding. We have been married for over 30 years. He also kept every birthday and father’s day card from me and the kids.
I wasn’t hopeful that he would be able to dispose of very much. But once he began shredding, he couldn’t stop. And then he discovered Kijiji. Things have been flying out of here at an alarming rate. It has become quite cathartic for him. I’m afraid that if I stay still for too long he might put me up for sale on Kijiji. I can just imagine the ad:
“Pre-owned, but very well-maintained wife for sale. All parts original. A little slow to start up in the morning, but motor begins purring after an extra-hot latte.” Will accept any reasonable offers.”
This salad was inspired by a forgotten bag of Israeli couscous I discovered sitting at the back of my pantry in a cleaning spree. The addition of roasted butternut squash is the clever idea of Daniel Gritzer over at seriouseats.com. Start by toasting the uncooked Israeli couscous in a bit of olive oil.Add boiling water and salt and cook couscous.I recently learned that squash is an excellent source of potassium. Apparently acorn squash is the champion, but butternut is a close second, and I find it much easier to peel. All those ridges in acorn squash scare me. If you need a primer on peeling and cutting butternut, check out the video in this post. Toss squash with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Add some smoked paprika too, because everything is better with smoked paprika.A jolt of freshness is provided by lots of green (scallions, mint and parsley) and yellow (lemon).
While home for a visit last weekend, my daughter observed the mess on our dining room table and expressed the opinion that perhaps I may have developed a bit of a hoarding problem. “Don’t you think you’ve acumulated enough food photography props mom?” she asked.Clearly she doesn’t understand. Those are all spring/summer props. Now I need to start acquiring appropriate fall/winter props. While some parents turn their kid’s vacated bedrooms into gift wrapping quarters or perhaps an extra closet to store off season clothing, it is entirely possible that her bedroom may be converted into my props closet, if I continue collecting at my current rate.
Of course it doesn’t help when my sister sends me these charming bowls. They were intended as nut bowls, but they are just perfect as mise en place bowls for a photo shoot! I let out a squealed with joy when I opened my gift. I have an extreme fondness for bowls! The colour combination of these little vessels is just gorgeous. She found them in Toronto at The Cookery Store. I have since discovered you can also get them online at Fishs Eddy.
I had a glut of winter squash after a recent photo shoot, and I needed to use them up before they went bad. My go-to ingredient for roasting vegetables is smoked paprika. It just makes everything taste better. The inspiration for this roasted squash hails from Melissa Clark’s book, Cook This Now. She mixed smoked paprika with olive oil and honey and smeared it all over squash before roasting. I swapped out the honey for some maple syrup, because that’s just the way we Canadians roll!
Melissa suggests finishing the roasted squash with a sprinkling of homemade sage salt. So simple to make; just bake some fresh sage leaves for about 10 minutes, until crispy. Then crumble them between your fingers with some coarse sea salt. Earthy, and slightly bitter, sage makes a perfect partener for sweet squash. A final sprinkling of toasted pumpkin seeds adds a welcome crunch.
Several years ago I got involved in volunteering at an organization called “Soup Sisters.” It was founded in 2009 in Calgary by Sharon Hapton. This organization supports women’s shelters across the country with the very simple and heartfelt gesture of providing home-made soup. Their tagline is “Warming hearts, one bowl at a time.” Sharon’s good friend from Ottawa, Lynne Oreck-Wener attended the Calgary launch, and was so moved by this wonderful program, she decided, along with Lori Thompson and Marien Barker, to start-up a branch of Soup Sisters in Ottawa. They decided to donate the soup to Interval House, a local women’s shelter here in Ottawa. Along with several other volunteers, we assist by arriving early and setting up all the soup stations, or staying late to assist in the clean-up.
The soups are cooked at Urban Element, a cooking studio here in Ottawa that is home to an incredible professional kitchen. What was once a Fire Station has been converted into a charming culinary workshop. They kept the original red brick walls and built a state-of-the-art kitchen, complete with shiny stainless steel counters and appliances, butcher block islands, sharp knives and spoons and whisks of every size and shape. The drawers are stocked with clear containers neatly labeled, containing just about every pantry item you could imagine. Five kinds of peppercorns, and six varieties of salt had me feeling slightly jealous.
Each month, a different group of participants (12-20 individuals) come together to cook. The groups differ each month. One month saw a group of employees from a law firm, using the evening as a team building opportunity. Other groups have included friends and family getting together to celebrate a special birthday. The groups break into teams of 4, each preparing a huge stock pot of delicious soup. Our job, as volunteers is to wander around, making sure that no one chops off a finger or grates a knuckle, help the participants find what they need, and generally coral the chaos. Once they finish chopping and sauteing, the soups are set on simmer and the group sits down to a little meal of soup, salad, bread and wine.
Each participant pays a $50 fee, for which they receive training from a respected guest chef, the chance to work in a modern, contemporary professional kitchen, some new cooking skills, dinner, wine and most importantly, the glow of gratification from helping others.
Each session begins with a short address from Lula Adam, public education coordinator at Interval House.
“When the women realize someone has taken time from their Sunday night to do something to help them, it really touches them. These are women who haven’t really had a lot done for them, so it really does make a difference. When women first come here, they often feel isolated and alone. This is a gentle reminder that people in the broader community do care.”
After dinner the participants gather back in the kitchen to package the soups. They are encouraged to write a personal message on the label, such as “made with hugs” or “made with love”. Each month when I volunteer, and watch the groups of women participating, it becomes clear, that these women care about their mission. They want to make a difference beyond writing a cheque. These are indeed soups made with love. If you are interested in their soup recipes, check out their wonderful new cookbook.
Last month when I was working there, our guest chef was Tara Rajan. She prepared a roasted squash and apple salad for the group. This is my interpretation of her salad.
Perhaps because I am a Libra, (the sign is the scales) when I cook, I am always thinking about balance. I once read a beautiful definition of balance by Jasmin Tanjeloff, on the blog Tiny Buddha.
“To me, it means that you have a handle on the various elements in your life and don’t feel that your heart or mind are being pulled too hard in any direction. More often than not, you feel calm, grounded, clear-headed, and motivated.”
Balance in cooking is just as important as balance in the rest of your life. When creating a dish I look for all the flavour elements to be in balance. These elements include salt, sour, sweet, spicy and bitter. I like to include the textural elements of creamy and crunch as well. Of course, not every dish needs all these elements, but when you do hit them all, sometimes it can be an incredible culinary party in your mouth.
I started with some obvious fall staples, squash and apples.
I like acorn squash because it looks like flowers when you slice it. Plus, the skin, when roasted is quite tender, so I never bother peeling it. I used Honeycrisp apples. Empires or Royal Galas would also work well.
The apples and squash are brushed with a little vegetable oil and maple syrup. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and they are ready for the oven.
I prepared a dressing using sunflower oil, apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, salt and pepper. In order to give the salad a hit of heat and some crunch, I prepared spiced pumpkin seeds. Shelled pumpkin seeds were coated with egg white and then tossed in a mixture of chipotle chile powder, sugar, and salt. They went into a moderate oven until they were toasted to perfection.
To assemble the salad, I started with a base of roasted squash and apple slices. I topped that with a few radicchio leaves, and a big pile of tender mache (lamb’s lettuce). I drizzled the salad with dressing, and topped it with some spiced pumpkin seeds and a few shavings of salty white cheddar.
