Pear and gorgonzola or beet and sage-pesto mini calzones

The first time you try something new, if you do not like it, promise yourself you will try it one more time. This is a simple rule I always live by. There are countless things that, the first time I tried to eat or make it, I decided it was something I just did not like. Take blue cheese for example. Blue cheese is scary. It's cheese and it has blue mold in it. If you jump right into the strong stuff, without knowing what to expect, it is pretty easy to get scared away.

Back when I started experimenting with cooking, I tried to make a pasta recipe with gorgonzola and broccoli. I could not find gorgonzola at the store so I bought a different blue cheese. I do not remember much about how it turned out except that I did not like it and did not touch blue cheese again for the next five years. In fact, I forgot that gorgonzola was a type of blue cheese.

Unknowingly, I recently ate a gorgonzola and squash pizza at Trattoria here in Vancouver. I could not believe how incredible that pizza tasted and did not realize, until after the meal, that gorgonzola was blue cheese.

Now that my anti-blue cheese spell has been broken, I am obsessed. I recently posted my golden beet and gorgonzola salad which I have made several times since that first salad. I thought of also making an eggs benedict with pear and gorgonzola but instead decided now was a good opportunity to try my hand at calzone making.

My original intent was to make these for a pot luck (although Mike and I ate them all instead). In my mind I pictured perfect snack-sized calzones. I wanted them to be golden, crispy and upon biting into them I wanted them to ooze gorgonzola and sweet pear.

To be honest, these did not turn out as perfectly as I would have liked. I did not have enough stuffing, I wish the dough had turned out a little more...puffy, and I think brushing them with some whisked egg would have added a crispyness to the crust. I still maintain that they would be a great pot luck dish and next time I have a food gathering to attend I vow to make these again.

Sometimes I find that even if it seems like you make something the same way twice, it will taste completely different both times. It may have something to do with the ingredients you buy, how long they sit around before you use them, how tired you are when you cook, how hungry you are when you eat, how rushed you are when you are making food. Sometimes, the only thing that is missing to make a good recipe fantastic is...practice.

This time I tried a variety of stuffings: pear and gorgonzola; beet, shallot and goat cheese; fresh tomato, kalamata olive and goat cheese. I also made a sage, parsley and hazelnut pesto which I mixed and matched with the different ingredients. If you have leftover sage pesto, you can stay tuned for my next post on sweet potato gnocchi which happens to go perfectly with the sage pesto. I also added grated mozzarella to a subset of my calzones and deemed it essential for adding the important ooze-factor that I wanted in these little snacks.

Pear and gorgonzola or beet and sage pesto mini-calzones

Winter seasonal: pears, beets, sage, meyer lemon

If you have never made these before, be prepared, as I was, to waste some time and some dough on trying different folding, rolling and stuffing techniques. Also, I suggest making the pizza dough a day or two before making these. That way, it will be ready to go when you are. The most lengthy part of this recipe is rolling out the little rounds. To save some time you can cut squares out of larger sheets. Neatly and elegantly folding the edges also takes some time and practice.

Ingredients

Basic pizza dough

Sage and hazelnut pesto (see below)

3 pears (red d'anjou for example) sliced thinly

2 tsp honey

Mild gorgonzola cheese

4 small golden beets, peeled and thinly sliced

2 shallots, sliced

2 garlic cloves, mashed

Soft goat cheese

Mozzarella cheese grated

1 beaten egg or extra virgin olive oil

Pesto Ingredients

1/4 cup sage

1/4 cup italian parsley

Small handful of roasted hazelnuts

Juice of 1 meyer lemon

Sea salt

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1 - If you have not already, start by making your pizza dough. If it is pre-made and in the fridge, bring the dough to room temperature and allow to warm up for about 1 hour.

2 - Preheat oven to 350F with pizza stone in the middle of the oven.

3 - Toss pear slices in 1 tbsp of olive oil and honey. Spread out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and cook about 15 minutes.

4 - Toss beet slices with crushed garlic, shallots, sea salt and olive oil. Roast until beets are tender about 20 - 30 minutes.

5 - Prepare pesto by blending the pesto ingredients in a food processor. Let stand in fridge or at room temperature.

6 - If making round calzones, divide dough into 16 portions and roll out each portion into a small circle. Alternatively, roll dough into 2 or 4 squares and then cut out smaller squares for about 16 squares total.

7 - Assemble calzones by spreading a tbsp of pesto on one half of the dough round, and top with beets, shallots and goat cheese or pears and gorgonzola. 

8 - Finish with shredded mozzarella cheese (a small handful).

9 - Fold over the dough and roll together the edges working with both hands, rolling up with your thumb and pushing down with your pointer finger. Working from one edge over to the opposite end.

10 - Lay calzones on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and brush with olive oil or beaten egg. Garnish with a light sprinkle of sea salt.

11 - Bake calzones in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the dough takes on a golden brown colour.

Leek and white cheddar sour milk biscuits

I am sure you have done this too. Purchased a bottle of milk, fully intent on using every drop but somehow the expiration date comes and the bottle is still half full (or half empty if you prefer). This happens to me all too often but this time I am using the fact that I had a head injury as my excuse. Good excuse or not I cannot stand to see milk go down the sink, knowing those cows that dedicate their lives to providing me with milk, knowing the energy that goes into making the containers that carry the milk and knowing that the organic milk I buy is not cheap.

Staring at this expired milk in my fridge I knew I was going to use it somehow, I refused to waste it. I was encouraged by my memory of a passage I read in Nelson Mandela's autobiography. There was a story about how when Nelson Mandela was hiding out he was almost discovered because he had left some milk in the window to warm and sour. 

Sour milk also called amasi was apparently something Nelson Mandela loved that his mother would make as a child and was commonly consumed by the Xhosa people (a subgroup of the Bantu people). During the apartheid the Bantu people were segregated to very specific areas of South Africa. To see a bottle of milk in the window of a home could have been a telltale sign that a non-white person was hiding in a whites-only neighborhood.

The memory of this striking passage prompted me to investigate what I could do with sour milk. Thanks to Google I was able to find that it is not uncommon to use sour milk in baking things like biscuits, muffins and chocolate cake. Soured milk is essentially milk with high acidity, the acid is produced by non-harmful bacteria that grow in and ferment the milk. If you are smarter than me you may already know that buttermilk is also a form of soured milk. As long as the milk is not too far away from expiration (a week or two) and there is no mold you should be good to go.

I modified a very simple recipe I found to make these biscuits; I omitted the egg, added cooked leeks and a touch of honey and topped them with a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan. I also increased the milk amount because I do not like my biscuits too dry. Lastly, I employed a technique I learned from Heidi Swanson's biscuit recipe (Super Natural Everyday Cookbook) whereby the dough is cut and stacked and rolled a couple of times to give the biscuits some flaky layers.

Leek and white cheddar sour milk biscuits

The only lengthy part of this recipe is cooking the leeks which should be cooked with care, at a low temperature trying not to let the leeks dry out or brown. If you want to make this recipe easier, throw in some chopped chives or herbs instead of cooked leeks - or omit them altogether for a simpler biscuit. Also, if you don't have sour milk just use regular milk or buttermilk. Honestly, the milk I used was expired for 4 days but still smelled fine so I do not even think it was sour.

Ingredients

1 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 leeks chopped, green parts and roots removed

3 cups all purpose organic flour

1.5 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup chopped cold butter

1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar

1 cup 1% sour milk

2 tbsp honey
Freshly grated parmesan

Directions

1 - Preheat oven to 425F.

2 - On stove, warm 1 tbsp of oil in a pan to medium-low heat.

3 - Stir in leeks and continue to cook over low heat until soft (about 15-20 minutes), stirring often and being careful to not brown. If leeks seem to be drying out add about a tsp or two of water to the pan.

4 - Meanwhile combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

5 - Stir in the chopped butter. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry knife or use your fingers to break apart the butter chunks into smaller bits. Continue cutting until flour mixture takes on a grainy appearance (a few minutes).

6 - Stir the cheddar cheese and the cooked leeks into the flour.

7 - Stir the honey into the milk then stir about 3/4 of the milk mixture into the flour.

8 - Depending on how wet or dry your dough is, stir in the remainder of the milk. The dough should be slightly sticky, not too dry, and should hold its shape well. Add extra milk if your dough feels too dry or is still crumbly.

9 - Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead until just evenly mixed.

10 - Flatten dough with hands or roll out dough to about 1 inch to 1.5 inch thickness.

11 - Cut dough in half, stack two halves on top of each other and press or roll out again to 1.5 inch thickness. Repeat again cutting and stacking and rolling to about 1 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface (so the biscuits do not stick to counter).

12 - Use a glass or a round cookie cutter to cut out biscuits from dough. Reshape dough as needed and continue cutting biscuits until all of the dough is used. The last couple of biscuits may just need to be formed by hand.

13 - Lay biscuits on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

14 - Sprinkle biscuits with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

15 - Bake biscuits for 12 - 15 minutes, rotating pan once, half way through cooking, to encourage even cooking. 
16 - Remove biscuits from oven when they are golden brown.

Golden beet, shallot, hazelnut and gorgonzola salad with balsamic vinaigrette

I know what this looks like. It looks like I am someone who eats really well. I look like someone who eats healthy, who always eats nice, home cooked meals. And maybe it looks like I am a little bit obsessed with food and that I spend way too much time trying to make palatable meals. 

Maybe you think I have too much time on my hands or that I having nothing better to do. If you do, that is okay. I think that about people who have blogs that are clearly way prettier, more interesting and more professional then mine. But I know that is not true.

I know that someone who posts two or three things a week is eating maybe 15 other meals that week that they did not tell you about. I know that only one or two evenings are required to write and mull over a post and that most of the work is done in ones heads while riding the bus, walking around town, shopping or while lying in bed. And I also know that writing a post can be done while watching a documentary (which I do a lot of), listening to music or even while eating.

I am totally off track here. What I wanted to say is that I do not eat as healthily as it may seem. I am happy that this blog has forced me to eat a variety of foods, so I know I am getting a lot of nutrients. And I am glad that I have pushed myself to try all sorts of new recipes and ingredients and cuisines. And I am also pleased that some of my TV watching time has been replaced by blogging time. 

But you deserve to know that I do not cook healthy meals every day and I still eat a surprising amount of crap. On a regular basis, when I am short on time or energy I eat Annie's shells and white cheddar pasta, Patel's or Tasty Bite's Indian curries, Gardein's crispy tenders and many of Amy's canned soups.

The last week or two in particular my eating habits have been especially poor. The week before last I was often staying at school late and eating on campus, or was just too tired when I got home to put any effort into cooking. And then of course last week I was indisposed due to my embarrassing head injury which precluded any activity requiring me to spend more than 10 minutes on my feet at a time. Many of the aforementioned prepared foodstuffs were my fuel during this time.

After long stretches of unsatisfactory eating like this I usually reach a point where I cannot think of eating anything except a giant salad. Today was one of those days.

I went to Whole Foods right after a long day at work and headed straight for the lettuce. Next, I walked up to the nut bins and stared at them for a good five minutes before deciding on roasted hazelnuts. I already had beets and shallots at home so I then headed to the cheese section. I wanted a gorgonzola cheese for some other recipes I have planned for later in the week and solicited a worker for advice on the most mild gorgonzola they had. I ended up with Castello gorgonzola which turned out to be exactly what I had in mind and which melted beautifully on top of some warm beets. Honestly, this was the perfect salad to end a much-too-long streak of not-so-great eating habits.

Golden beet, shallot, hazelnut and gorgonzola salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Makes 2 medium salads

Ingredients

Mixed greens (enough for 2 medium salads)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp honey

Fresh ground sea salt

1 small shallot

3 small yellow/golden beets

10 - 15 roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

2 - 3 tbsp Castello (or other mild) gorgonzola

Directions

1 - Turn on grill (I used my trusty Goerge Foreman) or preheat cast iron pan over medium heat

2 - Trim, peel and slice beets to 1/4" thickness (brush with olive oil if desired - I did not) and place on grill, turning after about 5 minutes. Continue grilling until slightly soft and browned.

3 - Slice shallots and also place on grill. Turning once, grill until browned and soft.

4 - Meanwhile, whisk together olive oil, balsamic, honey and salt to make the dressing.

5 - Toss lettuce in the desired amount of dressing and divide onto serving plates.

6 - Lay warm beets and shallots on top of lettuce.

7 - Crumble gorgonzola on top of warm beets and shallots.

9 - Garnish with chopped hazelnuts and serve immediately.  

Blueberry and Orange Zest Muffins

In high school, I had this English teacher who had a chip on his shoulder about people who would misuse the word 'ironic'. He especially hated that song by Alanis Morissette, you know the one. He said that nothing in that song was actually ironic. Instead of educating me on the proper use of irony he only succeeded in making me unsure every time I call something ironic. For this reason I will let you be the judge of whether the following situation is ironic or not.

In my last post I gushed over memories. How vivid my memory is and how I enjoy exploring and lingering over forgotten memories. Is it not ironic then or at least bizarre that this Monday night I fell while snowboarding, hit my head, and barely remember a thing that happened between 7 and 11 pm that night? I was taken to the hospital and tested for serious damage, luckily a moderate concussion was my only notable injury.  A CT scan and a neck X-ray assured me that I had not sustained any permanent damage.

Alarmingly though, the memories directly proceeding and hours following my fall are completely gone. Even the entire day before I fell is fuzzy. It was my first full day at my new job. Unfortunately I remember that day as if it were spent in a drunken stupor.

Even more unnerving is that the muffins I made the night before, I can barely remember putting them together. Although the more that I think about them, the more that comes back to me. Luckily, that same night I had taken a trip to the bookstore to pick up a Moleskin notebook specially designed for recipe recording so I know exactly how I made these muffins. Also, I know that Mike ate them all so they must have been edible. I even wrote down the recipe that I adapted these muffins from which is amazing because this is something for which I usually just rely on my memory. And before looking at my notebook I had no idea from where I had adapted this recipe.

I do remember that from the original recipe I substituted in rye flour for some of the all purpose flour and orange zest for lemon zest. I remember the orange zest being a good call and I remember the rye flour adding a hefty quality to the muffins. I also remember now that the reason I made these muffins is because I had bought some organic cream that I wanted to use for baking. I had no idea what to expect. These muffins did not turn out light and fluffy but instead were moist, had a nice chew to them and an almost crunchy exterior. 

In case you are wondering, I am almost fully recovered from my concussion. I do get tired really quickly and lay down a lot. I have not had the mental strength to even think of writing a post until today. I have not bought groceries or cooked a serious meal all week. But I did get a new copy of Bon Appetit in the mail yesterday and I am excited to try a few of the recipes. It might take me awhile to get back in the swing of things but I am sure I will be cooking up a storm in no time.

Blueberry and Orange Zest Muffins

Adapted from Tartelette - Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12-14 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups organic all purpose flour

3/4 cup organic rye flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large free-range eggs

3/4 cups half-and-half cream*

Zest of one navel orange

1 cup or more frozen blueberries

Directions

1 - Preheat oven to 350F with pizza stone on bottom 1/3 of oven.

2 - Mix together flours, baking powder, and salt.

3 - Beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth.

4 - Whisk cream into butter mixture.

5 - Stir orange zest and blueberries into the flour.

6 - Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the wet ingredients.

7 - Stir in, until just combined.

8 - Spoon about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of batter into a greased muffin pan or just about to the top.

*Note: My batter was not liquidy here, it held its shape so I was spooning balls of batter into the pan. You may try increasing the amount of cream or adding milk to make it more batter-like if you prefer.

9 - Bake muffins about 25 or 30 minutes - rotating pan once or twice during the baking time to cook evenly.

10 - Remove pan from oven when muffins are lightly browned.

11 - Remove muffins from pan to cool.

Olive, feta and sun-dried tomato biscuits

I love memories. One of my favorite experiences is when I remember something I have not thought about in years. The memories you never think about are always the most intense. I love driving through the streets of my home town, where I grew up or the city where my grandparents live. I become mesmerized as I look around and soak in all of the forgotten adventures and memories from my childhood. My memory is quite vivid, so these experiences are almost like watching numerous, overlapping and fragmented home movies.

I also like looking back and analyzing the younger, growing-lover-of-cooking me. I like trying to figure out which experiences taught me how to cook, which ones shaped my tastes, who influenced my appreciation for fine food, cooking and recipes. 

I used to try to figure out that one momentous experience that changed my life forever and turned me into the food obsessed girl I have become. But the truth is that when I think about why I am so food crazed, dozens if not hundreds of experiences come to mind. Lucky for me because each one can be a separate story and inspire a different recipe.

It is the same thing for why I am a microbiologist and in particular why I am enamored with viruses. There is no one reason. There are numerous. And over the years, by the end of this, you will probably know all of them. Lucky you.

I don't have a funny experience or story to recount today. And I probably got you all excited that I was going to tell you a fantastic tale. I really just wanted to tell you about one of the first recipes I ever made, that made me think I could cook. The recipe was for cheddar cheese and yogurt biscuits. This recipe came from a $12 cookbook that I bought when I first moved to Vancouver called 'International Comfort Food'. Many of my cooking firsts, like this Tomato Soup, originated from this very simple cookbook which taught me different cooking skills and categories.

Back when I used to make these biscuits, it was a treat. And I did not make them too often because Mike and I would eat the whole batch in one or two days. The only way to prevent that was to not make them. I also remember it being a big ordeal putting in the time to make these when now I can tell you that this is one of the easiest recipes you can make from my entire blog. 

The recipe in the cookbook calls for 1 cup of cubed cheddar cheese but this time I wanted to try something different so I replaced the cheddar with olives, sun-dried tomatoes, goat feta and parmesan. Thus, this recipe is a twist on an old favorite that brings back memories of my first, teeny-tiny, 300 square foot studio apartment in Vancouver and my first days as a timid PhD student.

Olive, feta and sun-dried tomato biscuits

Adapted from Cheese Biscuits recipe in 'International Comfort Food" by Willie Fitzpatrick

The original recipe calls for 1 cup of cubed sharp-cheddar cheese that I replaced here with sun-dried tomatoes, green olives, goat-feta and parmesan. You can try different variations of cheeses, add different herbs like basil or thyme or other ingredients like chopped artichokes, roasted garlic, green onions or chopped nuts.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose organic flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup cold butter cut into cubes

1 cup mix of sun-dried tomatoes, olives and feta

1/4 cup finely grated parmesan

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup milk

Directions

1 - Preheat oven to 425F. Note that I always have my baking stone in my oven. This may affect cooking time and temperature.

2 - Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

3 - Stir in butter and cut in with pastry tool or squish in butter with your fingers until butter is pelleted and grainy, a minute or two.

4 - Stir in chopped tomatoes, olives, feta and parmesan

5 - In a separate bowl, combine honey, yogurt and milk. Whisk until smooth.

6 - Stir yogurt mix into dry ingredients.

7 - Knead dough together on counter for 1 minute.

8 - Flatten out dough on lightly floured surface until round is 1/2 inch in thickness.

9 - Use a round cookie cutter or glass to make circular, cut-out biscuits.

10 - Re-mound and flatten scraps, continuing to make biscuits until all of the dough is used. The number of biscuits you make will depend on the size of your cookie cutter.

11 - Place biscuits on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

12 - Bake biscuits 7 - 12 minutes. This will depend on your oven, how big your biscuits are and if you have a stone in the oven.

13 - Remove from oven when lightly browned.

14 - Eat warm with a little bit of butter or serve for breakfast with eggs and hollandaise

*These biscuits make a great base for avocado, poached eggs and hollandaise. See my previous post on poaching eggs and how to make hollandaise.

New potato, mushroom and goat cheese mini-galettes

Do we all go through a phase in our life when we have to choose between two worlds? For me, this choice happened when I was seventeen years old. I was nearing the end of high school and it was time for me to figure out where I wanted my life to go. If you know me now you know me as a scientist, a lover of viruses, disease and research. I have always loved science; biology was my favorite subject and math was my best subject in school. I was (still am) a serious nerd. 

I also loved art. I loved to paint and draw and I had binders that are now stored in my mom's closet that are full of poetry. But, a time came when I had to decide what I wanted to focus on. I was applying for university and I had to choose a path; art or science. Needless to say I chose science and at the time it was an easy choice. We all learn the term "struggling artist" at a very young age and growing up in a home where money was tight deterred me from choosing a path of  creativity.

In grade 12, I also took an aptitude test to help me make my decision. It was explained to me that the test chose your aptitude based on your likes. Apparently if you poll people who are in the same field it turns out that they share a lot of the same likes outside of their primary profession. I only remember one of the results of my test: crafts. Apparently I have a lot in common with people who like to do crafts! Is that not the weirdest thing ever? When I thought of crafts back then I thought of kindergarten, knitting, construction paper, glue and sparkles.

At the time, that result meant little to me. The choice I made? Engineering. I was convinced that my love of math and science would make engineering a great career choice. Although I really wanted to challenge the statistics of engineering being a man dominated world, I knew almost immediately that it was not the place for me. The only engineering that tickled my fancy was biological and genetic engineering; hence I eventually switched into microbiology. 

The point of my story is that the other day it occurred to me that despite my anchor in the world of science I also crave creativity and I see now that this blog has become my creative outlet. Taking these pictures is for me an art, these stories are my poetry. And so, I think back to seventeen-year-old-me and how a career aptitude test that I took 12 years ago placed me in a category of people who like crafts. And who am I kidding if I do not admit that edible biology is essentially a glorified craft?

I made these crafty mini-galettes to go with the carrot soup from my last post. I had originally intended to make a large, pastry encased galette but to save time I made these little ones instead. Because of their size they were cooked in about 30 minutes and no pastry making was required. Mike informed me that these tasted like something I have made before. He may be referring to my Swiss Chard Pie or maybe he is thinking of my breakfasts. It is winter, the number of ingredients I am choosing from is dwindling and I love all three of the main ingredients of this dish so it is plausible that it tastes like something I have made before.

New potato, mushroom and goat cheese mini-galettes

Winter seasonal: mushrooms and potatoes

Ingredients

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup chopped shallots

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

8 new potatoes, sliced with a mandoline slicer

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Goat feta (about 3 - 4 tbsp)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided

1/4 cup freshly grated parmiggiano reggiano

Sea salt

Parchment paper

Muffin pan

Directions

1 - Preheat oven to 400F
2 - Heat skillet on stove, with 1 tbsp of olive oil, to medium high heat.
3 - Stir in mushrooms, shallots and thyme and cook, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.
4 - Lightly grease muffin pan, cut parchment paper into rectangles, about 2.5" X 5" and place into muffin tins.
5 - Mix potato slices with 1 tbsp oil, crushed garlic and season with sea salt.
6 - Place a few potato slices in bottom of parchment paper, in the tins (it is okay if they overlap).
7 - Scoop in a tsp or two of mushroom mix, then sprinkle in goat cheese.
8 - Repeat with another layer of potatoes, mushrooms, goat cheese then top with the remaining potatoes and push down gently to compact the galettes. 
9 - Place muffin pan in oven and cook potatoes about 25 minutes, or when potato edges are starting to brown.
Note: I cooked my galettes on top of a pizza stone that is always in my oven. It is possible that cooking times may vary.
10 - Remove pan from oven, top the mini-galettes with a teaspoon or so of parmesan and place back in oven for about 10 minutes.
11 - Remove from oven and serve with carrot soup perhaps?

Couscous with maple-orange glazed tofu, orange segments and avocado

Couscous has been, since the first time I tried it, one of my favorite foods. In the past I would make huge batches and eat it all in an embarrassingly short time span. But, until now, I would always make couscous the same way, with a couple of variations; green and red pepper, sundried tomatoes, avocado, olives and chopped grape tomatoes. Yesterday, Mike commented that something I cooked tasted like many other things I make which motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and cook something a little out of the ordinary.

I know I say this a lot - I swear that it is true - but this recipe came into being because I happened to have a limited and specific set of ingredients on hand. First, I have to thank Vesna for telling me about cara cara oranges. I did not know these things existed until she revealed to me that they were currently in abundance at Whole Foods. Every time I have stopped at Whole Foods over the past couple of weeks, I grabbed a few lovely cara caras. These oranges have pink flesh, like a grapefruit but are sweet like an orange.

The next crucial ingredient was the tofu I purchased with the intent of trying this 'Miso Sesame Winter Squash' Recipe posted recently on 101 cookbooks. I split the tofu in half to use some in todays recipe and still have enough left to try the Miso-squash recipe.

I remember reading an article recently that explained how tofu is like cheese, different brands have different tastes and textures. If you do not like the tofu you buy, try different brands until you find one you like. I generally always buy the same brand of tofu, but am usually left mostly disappointed. At Whole Foods the other day I spotted a brand I have never tried before, one that is made in Victoria BC. I have to say I was quite impressed with the final result and actually noticed that right out of the package it did not have that weird tofu smell that I associate with uncooked tofu, the colour was more white and the texture not too rubbery. The package did not really have a logo, it just states 'Organic Extra Firm Tofu' but in teeny little letters on the side it says www.greencuisine.ca.

Avocado, oranges and shallots are all that I could find in my kitchen to go with the tofu. To make the tofu fit in with the other ingredients I really felt that a citrus glaze was my only option. Just a tablespoon of maple syrup and some fresh meyer lemon juice to go with the juice from the oranges was all that I needed to make a lovely dressing for couscous and a delicious glaze for the tofu.

Another recent ingredient find that I would recommend is vegetable bouillon cubes from Harvest Sun, found on the organic items shelf in Save On food. They have a nice flavour, are not too salty and have no MSG. I have actually been using this in all of my recent recipes like carrot soup and risotto. I like bouillons because they are a lot easier to carry home from the store than cartons of liquid soup stock.

Also, for the first time ever I invested in a nice bottle of plain, organic, extra virgin olive oil to use in salads, which I used in the dressing here. The large bottle I usually have on my shelf has a bit of a strong taste and smell. It is fine for cooking but the flavour has ruined the last couple of salad dressings I have made. I figured it was time to invest in something superior; it was worth the extra few dollars. 

The combination of all of these high quality ingredients came together to be one of the most delicious dishes I have made in awhile; sweet, savory, light and citrusy.

Couscous with maple-orange glazed tofu, orange segments and avocado

Ingredients

3 - 4 cups prepared couscous, cooked in vegetable stock

2 medium juicy cara cara or other oranges (need ~1/4 cup juice and the segments)
2 tbsp meyer lemon juice

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp maple syrup

Sea salt

1/2 block tofu well drained, cut into 1 cm cubes

1 tbsp grapeseed oil

1/2 firm avocado, finely chopped

1/4 cup shallot, finely chopped

Cilantro to garnish

Directions

1 - If you have not already, prepare couscous according to package directions.
Example: Boil about 1.25 cups of stock and stir in 1.5 cups of couscous. Stir, remove from heat and cover. Let stand 10 minutes or until ready to use.

2 - Next, segment the oranges. 
->Use a sharp knife to slice off the top and bottom ends of the orange. 
->Then, slice off the peel, along the sides of the orange, exposing the orange flesh. 
->Release the segments into a strainer positioned over a bowl, allowing the juices to drain and catch in the bowl. 
->One at a time, one side at a time, slice the orange segments out of the separating skins.
3 - When all of the segments are released, squeeze the juices out of what is left of the oranges into the bowl (hopefully you will have about 1/4 cup of juice).

4 - Add 2 tbsp of meyer lemon juice into orange juice, add olive oil, maple syrup and season with sea salt; mix well. You should have about 1/2 cup of liquid total.

5 - Add 1/2 of the liquid (1/4 cup) to a saucepan, bring juice to a simmer and continue stirring, allowing water to evaporate and sauce to thicken, about 7 minutes.

6 - Stir the chopped shallot into the remaining dressing/juice and let sit while you prepare the tofu.

7 - Heat grapeseed oil in a well-seasoned iron skillet over medium

heat.

8 - Add cubed tofu, let cook about 2 minutes before tossing and continue to cook 2 minutes then tossing repeat for about 10 minutes total, until tofu is nicely browned.

9 - Stir tofu into reduced, orange-maple syrup.

10 - Into couscous, stir the avocado, dressing and shallots and orange segments.

11 - Serve couscous topped with glazed tofu and chopped cilantro.

Carrot, sweet potato, apple & pear soup with cilantro oil

My least favourite vegetable? Probably the carrot. It is not that I hate carrots or even dislike them but I only eat them in certain circumstances and I certainly never crave them. I do sometimes enjoy cold, crunchy and slightly sweet carrots served raw with a ranch-type dressing. Also, I love carrot soup. 

I cannot think of carrot soup without spinning back into an old childhood memory. You should know that as a kid I was very picky. I did not like vegetables unless they were served raw with a dip. Period. Every night my parents made dinner and the meal was eaten as a family. Maybe it is just my memory but I think I can list all of the staple weekday meals that were served on a regular basis; well rounded, quick to prepare and usually something the kids would eat (usually). Sometimes however, mom would get crazy and try new and strange things.

One new creation which threw the daily routine off kilter was a puréed carrot soup that my mom made when I must have been about 7 years old. I do not remember why, but none of us liked the soup. Mom cooked most of our meals and she usually did a good job of cooking things we enjoyed. But on that occasion I remember a big fuss, weird reactions, exclamations and face-making. Looking back I wonder if the only reason we did not like it was because it was so foreign from what we usually ate. We never ate puréed soups and we never ate vegetarian meals.

As silly as it seems I love thinking back to that day; a day when dad stepped out of his role as the man who would eat anything, a day that mom said it was okay not to finish our dinner, and a day that I stared into a peculiar bowl of orange liquid. Somehow, that day eventually turned into this one; a day that I love carrot soup.

At my last trip to the farmers market I saw these unusual purple carrots and could not stop myself from buying a few. I only bought 4 carrots so to make a soup I needed to add some other things. Based on what was in my kitchen I added sweet potato, an apple and a pear. I also added fresh ginger and cilantro oil for extra flavour. Having the fruit in the soup made it slightly sweet, no sugar required. 

The best part about this soup? As I was making it, Mike arrived at home and handed me the pretty little tulips seen above. I have to warn you though, making this soup does not guarantee someone will bring you flowers.

Carrot, sweet potato, apple and pear soup with cilantro oil

Winter seasonal: apple, pear, carrot and sweet potato

Ingredients

1.5 cups sweet potato, cubed 

1.5 cups carrot, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/4 cup dry white wine

2.5 cups vegetable stock (MSG-free)

1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped

1 pear peeled cored and chopped

Lemon juice (meyer or regular), freshly squeezed

Up to 1 tsp sea salt

Cilantro oil

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp cilantro leaves

Sea salt

Directions

1 - Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Stir in onion, carrot, ginger, garlic and sweet potato.

2 - Cook vegetables until onion is soft, about 7 minutes.

3 - De-glaze bottom with pot with white wine, stirring vegetables a few times.

4 - Add water and a vegetable bouillon or vegetable stock to pot and bring to a simmer.

5 - Stir in chopped apple and pear.

6 - Cover pot, turn down heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

7 - Meanwhile, make cilantro oil by combining olive oil, cilantro and some sea salt in a food processor until cilantro is processed into little flecks and the oil is green. You can filter the oil but I prefer to use it as is.

8 - When soup is done simmering, take off of heat and allow to sit and cool about 10 minutes.

9 - Process soup in a food processor until smooth.

10 - Add soup back to pot, re-warm and stir in sea salt about 1/4 tsp at a time. Stir, taste and add more salt if desired.

11 - Finish by stirring lemon juice into soup. 

12 - Serve soup drizzled with cilantro oil.