I have a condition called Food On The Brain. I make grocery lists to help plan for meals I crave and will create. I go on food hunts all over the city searching out the choicest ingredients for my foodie projects. I devote time every day to cooking family meals. And, for rest and relaxation, I read cookbooks! I work in a library and have access to thousands of cookbooks. I try to wade my way through most of the cookbooks in the library collection, even if only to glance at the Table of Contents and peek at the pictures. But, when it comes to getting my hands dirty in the kitchen and actually using a cookbook, I find myself connecting with and relying on only a select few. Which few? Here is my list, along with the reasons each of these speaks to me.
The new Moosewood cookbook / by Katzen, Mollie, 1950- The new Moosewood is really the old Moosewood with a much needed improved index. This is the book I can thank for teaching me to make really delicious Hummous, Babaganouj and Guacamole while I was a poor student living in the McGill ghetto. I still use these excellent recipes today. With charming illustrations from the hippy days the book was first published, this is a classic must-have for both vegetarians and non. Great salads and soups too!
Baking illustrated : a best recipe classic / The editors from the reliable Cook's Illustrated magazine bring us this trustworthy publication with the most carefully tested recipes imaginable. Not as visually flashy or glossy as is currently the trend in cookbooks, but a staple in my kitchen because of the quality of the recipes. I think I have developed a chemical dependancy on the Caramel Sauce. You must experience the Chocolate Truffle Tart at least once in your life time. The Banana Bread is everything you want this homestyle classic to be: moist and dense, full of fresh banana flavour and liberally textured with little morsels of walnuts. Lots of user-friendly savoury recipes too.
Muffins A to Z / by Simmons, Marie. One summer I had a stint as a baker at Annie's Bakery and Cafe in Fish Creek Park and this is the book of recipes we used to make gigantic, glorious, fresh muffins every morning. The banana Knock-Out Muffins are possibly the most delicious muffins I have ever eaten. There is an excellent recipe for Pumpkin Praline Muffins that will also knock you out. Vagabond Muffins for perfect for those days you are on the go and need a portable and nutritious snack. If you love muffins, this is the Bible. From decadently rich to hearty and healthy, you will find plenty here to satisfy all your muffin cravings with.
The best international recipe : a best recipe classic / Another fabulous cookbook from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine, featuring the great classic foods of the world. Awesome Chicken Enchiladas, Beef Goulash,Tabbouleh Salad, Samosas, Risotto, etc. The list goes on and you will never tire of the variety in this book. The many tantalizing flavours of world foods will find a happy home in your kitchen when you start cooking with this book.
The complete meat cookbook : a juicy and authoritative guide to selecting, seasoning, and cooking today's beef, pork, lamb, and veal / by Aidells, Bruce. I gave you a veggie-centered book, so this is for the meat-lovers. A very easy to use reference type cookbook with great ideas for meaty meals, plus wonderful sauces, condiments and side dishes to please everyone. Try some of the succulent spice rubs and the other flavour building tips. If you are tired of the same old meat and potatoes meals, this book will open your eyes to the surprising variety meat-based menus can contain.
Canadian living's desserts / by Baird, Elizabeth, 1939- Every Canadian household should own this book, with its well-tested recipes and its crowd-pleasing desserts. Everything you could possibly want in a dessert book is included, from cakes and cookies to pies and tarts, puddings, crumbles, crisps and souffles. Life is definitely sweeter when you use these recipes. I am a big fan of the comforting Cranberry Apple Crisp, which I will make later today, and the blissful Grand Marnier Nanaimo Bars, both very Canadian and very good.
Everyday Greens : home cooking from Greens, the celebrated vegetarian restaurant / by Somerville, Annie. This book details delicious ways to use vegetables, with stunning yet simple recipes for salads, soups, sandwiches, savoury snacks, pizza, curries, stews, casseroles, pasta, beans, grains, etc.! The Corn and Tomatillo Salsa and Moroccan Beet Salad both pack in big flavour and beautiful colour. Who knew eating your vegetables could be so much fun? Used along with the meat book and the dessert book, you have all your bases covered!
Homemade Crackers (photo courtesy of 101cookbooks.com)
If you take a little flour and a little water and blend them together until they form a smooth, doughy mass, you are halfway there to making your own crackers! But, these would be bland crackers, so you do need to add some flavour. Easily done: some salt, some cracked pepper, a bit of grated cheese, some chopped fresh rosemary and a small dribble of good, fruity olive oil. Now you have the makings of really fabulous, crisp, savoury snacks. I predict that once you start making your own crackers you will not stop. In the time it takes you to find your shopping list and write "crackers", you will have these crunchy ones in the oven. Actually, the dough has to sit for 30 minutes, so I lie. But the sitting time doesn't count, so I tell the truth. These crackers are inspired by a recipe in Rose Levy Beranbaum's book The Bread Bible.
Rosemary Crackers
2+3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup whole wheat flour; 1 tsp. salt; 1 cup water at room temperature; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary.
Combine flours and salt in mixer bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in all but 1 tbsp. of the water, the oil and the rosemary. With a paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until the dough comes together and cleans the side of the bowl. If this doesn't happen, add extra water 1 tbsp. at a time until a ball of dough forms. If the dough is too sticky, add flour, 1 tbsp. at a time until the dough is properly formed. Oil the dough lightly, cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before rolling.
To make the crackers, preheat the oven to 450 F. Roll dough thinly on a floured surface. Brush the tops of the crackers with a little bit of water and sprinkle on a good pinch of kosher salt, which is coarse and mellow. Cut crackers any way you like and bake for 8-10 minutes. The crackers should have raised bubbles that are lightly browned. Cool and eat or keep in a covered container.
Coarse salt adds texture and taste to the tops of crackers
Once you find a cracker recipe you like, the creative possibilities are limitless. You can replace some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat or rye flour. You can add an assortment of seeds to the dough for texture, colour and flavour. I love using fennel, flax and poppy seeds. You can chop up some fresh sage and incorporate it into the dough. You can cut the crackers into long, thin strips, or cute little stars. You get the idea.
Another winner in my house are these Crisp Seeded Mega-Crackers from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. My family say these crackers are better than chips, with the same winning pairing of crispness and saltiness, but nutritionally positive and pretty, with the seeds speckling the dough in a random, rustic way. You can brush the rolled cracker dough with water and sprinkle on some extra salt, or not.
3 cups all-purposed unbleached flour; 1 tsp. salt; 1/2 tsp. kosher or coarse sea salt for the tops of the crackers (optional); 2/3 cup assorted small seeds of your choice (sesame, flax, poppy, fennel, anise are all great); 1 tsp. ground black pepper; 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil; 1 cup cool water.
Mix together dry ingredients, leaving out the optional kosher salt for the tops. Stir in olive oil then add water, and mix until dough starts to come together. Add single spoonfulls of water if mixture is too dry, or single spoonfuls of flour if mixture is too wet and gloppy. Once you have a smooth, sticky mass of dough, oil it lightly, cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes. Roll dough out thinly on a floured surface and brush the tops with a bit of water. Sprinkle on a bit of kosher or coarse salt if you like. Cut crackers into any shape you like. Bake crackers at 450 F for about 10 minutes or until browned and crisp. Cool and store in airtight containers.
Once the aromas of home baking fill your kitchen, the idea of making your own crackers will not seem crazy at all. To further explore the world of breads and savoury snacks, take a look at these books:
Savory Baking From the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou
Flatbreads and Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Daguid
Pecans
I am easily seduced by simple foods made well with good ingredients. This means that I lean more towards casual homestyle cooking as opposed to trendy, eye-catching architectural food structures. I love hearty peasant food and old-fashioned, traditional recipes passed down from grandmothers. So, this month I am inspired by a really straight-forward autumn-coloured dish, Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping. Perhaps this is the kind of dish many of you make often, especially when temperatures drop and the need for comfort rises. My recipe, adapted from one I found on www.cooking.com, has a velvety, soft texture, reminiscent of chocolate mousse, actually, invitingly smooth and just sweet enough to please without being downright dessert-like. Topped with a crisp, nutty crust, this dish elevates the humble sweet potato into what feels like a sweet indulgence but contains only a tablespoon of butter (for the whole dish). The silkiness of orange-scented sweet potatoes is gloriously enhanced with the warm notes of cinnamon and fresh ginger, plus a couple of eggs for smooth lightness.
Sweet Potato Casserole
2+1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, about 3 medium, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks; 2 large eggs; 1 tablespoon honey; 1/2 cup orange juice; 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest; 1 tsp. cinnamon; 1 tbsp. freshly grated ginger; 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract; 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste; pepper to taste. Topping: 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour; 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar; 7 tsp. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed; 1 tbsp. melted butter; 1/2 tsp. cinnamon; 3/4 cup chopped pecans.
Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat until very tender, 15-20 minutes. Drain well and return to pan. Mash with a potato masher. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a medium sized casserole or 7"x11" baking pan . In a mixing bowl whisk eggs and honey until frothy. Stir in orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add the mashed sweet potato and whip until very well blended and light in texture. Spread this mixture into casserole or pan. For the topping, mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and orange juice concentrate. Stir in pecans and mix until evenly distributed. With your fingers crumble this topping as evenly as you can over the sweet potato mixture. Bake at 350 F for 35 - 40 minutes, until heated through and the top is lightly browned.
Makes enough for about 8 servings.
I tend not to talk alot about nutrition because my guiding principle is that real, natural food is inherently healthy, so why analyze it? I will say, though, that nuts are one of nature's best foods, containing unsaturated fats (that's the "good" kind) that help reduce risks of heart disease. Nuts are also an excellent source of antioxidants that fight free radicals in the blood and protect against cancer and the effects of aging.
Caramel
It is a stretch to call this a health food, but pecans with caramel are a memorable match that I gravitate to again and again. When I want some pecan pie decadance but don't feel like taking on the task of its creation, I make these sticky, gooey pecan squares which offer the same satisfying caramel-nut hit in a bar cookie format. This recipe comes from Williams-Sonoma's book Essentials of Baking:
Maple Pecan Squares
Crust: 1+1/4 cups all-purpose flour; 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar; 1/4 tsp. salt; 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces. Filling: 6 tbps. unsalted butter; 1/3 cup pure maple syrup; 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar; 1/3 cup heavy cream (35%); 2 cups coarsely chopped pecans.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9" square baking pan. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, brown sugar and salt and pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms large coarse crumbs the size of peas. Add a few drops of cold water and pulse just until the mixture clumps together. It should hold its shape when you pinch it with your fingers. Press this mixture firmly and evenly into bottom of pan. Bake until edges are lightly browned and the top feels firm, 12-17 minutes. For the filling, in a saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, maple syrup, brown sugar and cream and stir together until better melts and sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the pecans. Mix well. Pour hot filling over the partially baked crust, spreading it evenly. Bake 22-25 minutes. The filling will bubble vigourously, subside and then form smaller bubbles toward the end of baking. Cool completely before cutting into little squares.
Go nuts for these books:
Nuts : more than 75 delicious & healthy recipes / by Laskin, Avner.
Nuts : recipes from around the world that feature nature's perfect ingredient / by Griffith, Linda.
In the photo above I am in the Spice Market in Istanbul, Turkey surrounded by aromatic heaps of bright red Turkish pepper. I was swept here by what felt like a human tidal wave on the busy streets into this ancient and bustling emporium on the banks of the Bosphorous Sea. On the outside of the market are stalls of the most gorgeous produce known to man, walnuts so plump and perfect that the vendor is filling a bag for me before we even speak. The interior of the Spice Market is devoted to dried goods, glistening jewel-toned blocks of Turkish delight studded with pistachios and pomegranate seeds. Teas of every sort are displayed alongside dried apricots, nuts and spices, shaped into peaked domes almost taller than I am. The various vendors are quick to sprinkle little tastings of Turkish pepper into the palm of my hand, which I lick, savouring the duality of heat and sweetness in the crumbly, slightly sticky flakes. I wish I could take home enough to last me for the rest of my life.
Turkish Pepper
At home here in Calgary, Turkish pepper is sometimes referred to as Aleppo pepper. Seek it out in Middle Eastern food stores such as Somar Food Market (17 - 9250 MacLeod Trail SE - 403-252-2700) and use it as I do to add depth, colour and flavour to salad dressings, marinades and sauces. A good place to start using Turkish pepper is a hearty, multi-flavoured Bulgur Salad, scented with the tart acidity of pomegranate molasses (Somar carries it!), the fruity bite of Turkish pepper, the crunch of toasted walnuts and the vibrant grassiness of handfuls of freshly chopped parsley. Pomegranate molasses is the syrupy concentrate of pomegranate juice that is both tart and sweet, oozing with fruit aromas. Prepare to find yourself completely intoxicated by it and the other sensual notes in this salad:
Bulgar Salad
1 cup coarse-ground bulgar (fine bulgar turns to mush); 1+1/2 cups boiling water; 1/2 tsp. salt; 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil; 2+1/2 tbsp. pomegranate molasses; juice of 1/2 lemon; 2 tbsp. tomato paste; 1 tsp. ground cumin; 1 tsp. ground coriander seeds; 1/2 tsp ground allspice; 1/2 tsp. Turkish pepper (also called Aleppo pepper); freshly ground black pepper to taste; 1 cup walnut pieces, toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped; 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted; 1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley.
Soak bulgar in water with the salt, covered, until tender, about 25 minutes. All the water should be absorbed by the bulgar. If it is not, drain well. Whisk olive oil with pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, lemon juice and spices. Pour half of this dressing over the bulgar. Let it absorb for 10 minutes. Add nuts and parsley and the remaining dressing. Mix well. Taste for salt and pepper and add more if needed. Best left to sit in the fridge for a couple of hours, for the flavours to develop.
The Bulgar Salad is a Claudia Roden recipe from the New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook edited by Linda Amster. The recipe makes enough salad for 4 people, can easily be doubled and pairs very well with grilled chicken and Greek salad.
Muhammara (left) and Babaganouj (right)
If you are looking for another canvas to showcase both Turkish pepper and pomegranate molasses, try Muhammara, a tangy roasted red pepper and walnut dip well known in the Middle East. This recipe is from a tattered index card in my collection, from an unknown source, and is brightly flavoured and very well balanced:
Muhammara
4 fresh red peppers, roasted, skinned, deseeded and chopped; 1/2 clove of fresh garlic, crushed; salt to taste; 1+1/2 cups walnut pieces, toasted and cooled; 1/2 cup bread crumbs (best from stale pita bread); 1 tsp. Turkish pepper (also called Aleppo pepper); 2 tbsp. pomegranate molasses; 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice.
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until roughly textured, not perfectly smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve with crackers or celery sticks or as an accompaniment to broiled fish or meat.
Intrigued by the flavours of the Mediterranean? These titles will titilate you:
Feast from the Mideast : 250 sun-drenched dishes from the lands of the Bible / by Levy, Faye.
Claudia Roden Arabesque : a taste of Morocco, Turkey & Lebanon. by Roden, Claudia.
Middle Eastern cookbook / by Khalifé, Maria.
I never throw away the skin of a lemon, lime or orange without first pillaging its tangy zest, wherein lie the oils that offer us their fragrant essence. My thinking is that if I am using lemon juice somewhere, this somewhere will be even more sumptous with the extra jolt from the lemon's zest. So, in a vinaigrette for salad where lemon juice joins olive oil, in goes the grated zest of the very same lemon I am juicing. With some minced, fresh garlic, a dab of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper and perhaps a smattering of chopped fresh herbs, you are well on your way to wonderfulness. Or, when I roast cubes of butternut squash with a splash of orange juice, honey and olive oil, the addition of orange zest creates a brighter citrus effect, seductively floral and complex. This is a form of alchemy. A humble dish is transformed into a great one and you are transformed into a kitchen wizard.
If you do not own a Microplane zester grater, as seen above from www.cooking.com, do consider purchasing one. Not only does it make simple work of zesting citrus fruits, you will love the clouds of fluffy parmesan cheese it produces and the handsome heaps of freshly grated ginger that fall from its razor sharp miniature blades. It is also wonderful for grating chocolate into feathery light mounds, or for morphing the hard knob of a whole nutmeg into a mass of ethereal powder. My grater is my single most favourite kitchen tool.
So, you have your zester and you are ready to rock and roll. Now what? Try your hand at this assertive and vividly coloured Carribean Black Bean Salad: Cook up some black beans or use some from a can, well rinsed. Dress the beans with the oil of your choice and generous amounts of fresh lime juice and lime zest. Add salt and pepper and fresh, minced garlic to taste. Grate in some fresh ginger for heat and bite. Toss in diced peppers in an assortment of colours, a diced jalapeno pepper or two, some purple Spanish onion, and lots of fresh, chopped cilantro. I love including kernals of cooked corn in this salad. You many want to season the salad with some cumin and chile powder for a Mexican touch.
If you are keen on this sunny theme, read on for books that will delight and inspire you. Lori Longbotham is probably the reigning queen of lemons and in her books you will find many reasons to give lemons a squeeze.
Lemon zest : more than 175 recipes with a twist / by Longbotham, Lori.
Luscious lemon desserts / by Longbotham, Lori.
Cooking with lemons & limes / by Glover, Brian.
October is here, suddenly, it seems, and I am only now realizing that I didn't post a Food of the Month, a little habit I started back in July when raspberries were in season. So, instead, I have a Food of the Minute for you, cranberries in time for Thanksgiving weekend and beyond. I'll spare you my usual banter and hand over some great cranberry recipes I love. You will too.
Cranberry sauce is a beautiful concept. So is this Cranberry Chutney, adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, a perfect pairing for turkey dinner or to jazz up a cheese plate:
Cranberry Chutney
1 tbsp. canola oil; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries; 1 cup raisins; 1 cup runny honey; 2 tbsp. fresh grated ginger; 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon; 1/4 tsp. ground star anise (optional); 1 tbsp. yellow mustard seeds; 1/4 tsp. ground cloves; 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar; 3/4 cup orange or apple jucie; 2 apples, peeled, cored and diced; 1 stalk celery, diced small (about 1/2 cup), 1 tsp. salt or to taste; freshly ground pepper to taste; hot pepper flakes to taste.
In a medium saucepan heat oil and cook onion until soft, about 4 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients to the saucepan and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat so mixture simmers. Cranberries will pop open and break down. Cook until the apples and cranberries are softened and the chutney is thickened, about 20 minutes or so. Stir often at the end of cooking to avoid scorching. Let the chutney cool. Pack it into jars and store in the fridge.
Also worth making in the theme of cranberries are these gorgeous Oatmeal and Cranberry Muffins adapted from Marie Simmons miniature but superb book Muffins A to Z. Bursting with exploded fresh cranberries, studded with walnuts and laden with wholesome oatmeal and whole wheat flour, these ruby-flecked gems are the perfect offering when cranberries are at hand.
Oatmeal and Cranberry Muffins
1+1/2 cups milk; 1+1/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, plus more for topping; 1/3 cup unsalted butter; 2/3 cup whole wheat flour; 2/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour; 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar; 2 tsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. baking soda; 1/2 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract; 2 large eggs; 1 cup fresh cranberries; 1 cup chopped walnuts.
In a small saucepan, combine milk and oats. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Stir to mix in the butter once it melts. Cool slightly. Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl mix eggs with the brown sugar and vanilla. Add the milk slowly to the egg mixture and stir to combine. Add the cooked oatmeal/butter mixture to the egg mixture. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix just until evenly moistened. Add in the cranberries and walnuts and fold together just until evenly distributed. Divide the batter evenly amongst the muffin cups, sprinkling each muffin with oats. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the muffin comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Cool and serve. Makes 12 medium or 8 large muffins.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Here is a book about cranberries you may want to look at:
Cranberries: Recipes from Canada's Best Chefs by Elaine Elliot
A sea of spices in a Turkish market!
An easy and fun way to perk up the flavours of your cooking is to blend your own spice mixes. It is very much like playing in a sandbox: you take a bit of this, a pinch of that, a handful of this and a scoop of that, then smoosh it all together!
Start with very fresh spices, not the dusty jars of spice powder sitting in your pantry for the last decade. Buy whole spices where possible, cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, whole peppercorns, mustard seeds, star anise, etc. For maximum flavour gently toast individual spices in a hot, dry skillet very briefly JUST until they release their fragrance and JUST START to change colour. Remove toasted spices from the skillet right away because spices can go from aromatic to bitter and burnt in a nanosecond. Let spices cool and then grind them in a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder.
Coriander Seeds
Let me introduce you to a lusty all-purpose spice mix called Bone Dust, from BBQ guru Ted Reader's newest book "Napolean's Everyday Gourmet Grilling". Use this bold seasoning on everything from scrambled eggs to steaks to grilled vegetables to stews.
Bone Dust
1/2 cup paprika; 1/4 cup chile powder; 3 tbsp. kosher salt; 2 tbsp. sugar; 2 tbsp. ground coriander seeds; 2 tbsp. garlic powder; 2 tbsp. curry powder; 2 tbsp. hot dry mustard; 1 tbsp. ground black pepper; 1 tbsp. dried basil or oregano; 1 tbsp. dried thyme; 1 tbsp. ground cumin seeds; 1 tbsp. cayenne pepper. Combine spices together and store in a jar in the pantry.
I have been making my own Mexican Chile Powder for years, buying deeply hued dried Gaujillo, New Mexican, Chipotle, Pastilla, Ancho and Puya chiles from La Tiendona Market on 36th St. SE in Calgary. You can combine different types of chiles for depth of flavour and for varying amounts of heat. Gently toast chiles on all sides in a hot, dry skillet, pressing down on their skin with a spatula to try to toast the rumpled surfaces until fragrant. Remove chiles immediately from the skillet. Let them cool. Grind chiles into a powder. Combine 1/2 cup ground ancho or pastilla chile, 2 tbsp. ground cumin seeds, 2 tsp. dried oregano (Mexican oregano if possible), 1 tbsp. paprika and 2 tbsp. ground coriander seeds. Yield: about 1/2 cup. This deeply aromatic spice blend is subtly sweet and hot at the same time, the sweetness from the paprika, the hotness from the chiles.
Ancho Chile Peppers
Another one of my favourite blends, also from Napolean's Everyday Gourmet Grilling, is Jerk Spice Rub, a Carribean inspired mix that is fabulous on grilled chicken pieces or pork loin. Using lots of assertive allspice, dried thyme and ginger, your nose will transport your mind to a faraway place with swaying palm trees and white sand beaches. Combine 2 tbsp. onion powder, 2 tbsp. ground allspice, 2 tbsp. cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp. dried thyme, 1 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tbsp. ground black pepper, 1 tbsp. dried granulated garlic, 1 tbsp. kosher salt, 1 tbsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. mustard powder, 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon. Makes about 1 cup.
Once you start blending your own spices you will never buy commercial curry powder again. Try this beautiful blend, called South Indian Curry Spice Mix: 1 tsp. canola oil; 1 tbsp. coriander seeds; 1 tbsp. fennel seeds; 1 tsp. cumin seeds; 4 whole cloves; 2 green cardamom pods; 1/2"-piece cinnamon stick; 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns; 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric; 1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper. Put a small frying pan over medium heat. When it is hot, add oil. When oil is hot, add coriander, fennel, cumin, cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick and peppercorns. Cook the spices, stirring, until they just release their aromas and just begin to change colour. Immediately transfer spices to a spice grinder or mortar. Let the spices cool and grind to a powder. Add turmeric and cayenne and mix well. This recipe is from www.finecooking.com.
Cardamom and Cinnamon
Here are some books that will add spice to your life:
Where flavor was born : recipes and culinary travels along the Indian Ocean spice route / by Viestad, Andreas.
Eating India : an odyssey into the food and culture of the land of spices / by Banerji, Chitrita.
Spice : flavors of the eastern Mediterranean / by Sortun, Ana, 1967-
Cantucci
I recently had a perfect day in Siena, Italy, the perfect place to have it. Delicious cookies played a part. I started the day in my room in a converted 14th century monastery by opening the heavy, oak shutters to sweeping views of land undulating in folds to the horizon, the same soft air and wispy atmosphere that is seen and almost felt in a Renaissance painting.
View from our room in Monastery
Breakfast was served in the monastery's ancient wine cellar, a cheerful room sitting under an enormous arch of honey-coloured bricks. There were cookies for breakfast with foamy cappuccino, along with the more usual offerings like bread, cheese, cereal, fruit and yogurt. What wonderful cookies these were, and with capricious names: Cavallucci, Ricciarelli and Cantucci. We had read that Siena was famous for its biscotti (all cookies are biscotti in Italian) but nothing had prepared us for the intriguing treats laid out before us. Cavallucci are nubby, bumpy, chewy, thick and homely, yet bursting with peronality from the unusual marriage of anise and corinader seeds, local walnuts, honey and candied fruit. Ricciarelli are a conceptual contrast to Cavallucci, soft and white as a cloud, sprinkled with a dusting of confectioners' sugar. They are pretty and cakey, shaped like and scented with almonds, with a texture that is a cross between meringue and marzipan. Cantucci are hard, chubby toasted little almond slices, twice-baked and best enjoyed when softened by dipping them into vin santo (sweet wine), which we refrained from doing at breakfast, dipping into our cappuccinos instead.
My husband and I quickly determined that we needed our very own stash of these Sienese biscotti to sustain us through the day. Bini Bakery was right across the street, certainly a sign meaning we and the cookies were meant to be together. We nibbled on cookies as we ambled through the ancient, winding streets of Siena, unchanged since medieval times. We munched in Il Campo, the sea-shell-shaped piazza (public square) and focal point of Siena, the only relatively flat space in a town that rises and falls everywhere else. We sat on the marble steps of the Duomo with cookies in hand, awestruck by the fantastical frenzy of twisted gothic columns and golden frescoes on the facade of the cathedral. We climbed 505 steps to the top of the Torre Mangia fortified by our goodies, swooning over the beauty of the "sienna"-coloured land. Even dirt is pretty in Siena. And we picked at the crumbs at the bottom of our bag after a delightful dinner of pici pasta, long, thin strands of hand-rolled pasta dough doused with assertive arrabiata sauce.
View from Torre Mangia
A perfect day must nourish your heart and soul, delight all your senses and deliver continual pleasure from morning to night. Nothing ugly should pass before your eyes; no discordant sounds should disturb your ears. You should definitely eat delicious cookies. This is exactly what my perfect day in Siena was like.
Bring the aromas and flavours of Sienese baking into your home with these delicate Ricciarelli:
2 cups whole blanched almonds; 1 cup granulated sugar; 1+1/4 cups confectioners' sugar; 2 egg whites, stiffly beaten, 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract; pinch of salt.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 11" x 17" baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulverize the almonds with both sugars in a food processor fitted with a metal blade until soft and floury. In a mixing bowl beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Add the almond extract and a pinch of salt into the egg whites and stir gently to just combine. Gradually add the almond/sugar mixture to the egg white mixture and stir well to form a malleable paste. Break off walnut-sized balls of dough and roll them in confectioners' sugar. With your hands, mould dough into tapered almond-shaped cookies about 1/2" thick and 2" long from end to end. Place cookies 2" apart on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until set but still soft and not browned. Let cool and dust with a cloud of confectioners' sugar. Makes 20 lovley cookies.
Ricciarelli
If you would like to learn more about Italian baking, you may want to borrow these library books:
Italian baking secrets / by Orsini, Joseph E.
La dolce vita : sweet things from the Italian home kitchen / by Ferrigno, Ursula.
Breakfast Bars
Last year I tripped over Nigella Lawson's recipe for Breakfast Bars shown above, photo courtesy of www.eatingoutloud.com, and they appealled to me for a few reasons. I am not a breakfast person, but the concept of a portable, healthful, low-fat snack (for anytime during the day, really) was a big seller. I liked the fact that these are easy to put together and that there are no added fats in the recipe, just oatmeal goodness enriched by seeds, nuts and dried fruit, bound together with a can of condensed milk. Like eating cereal and milk, definitely a breakfast theme, but in a bar format. So, here I have been, happily munching on these great little goodies, never imagining that there is a bit of a Breakfast Bar "war" occuring in the blogosphere. One blogger called Nigella's bar a let down, saying they lacked flavour. I see them as a great base and a canvas for improvisation. Want more flavour? Add cinnamon and nutmeg! You love dried blueberries? Substitute them for the dried cranberries! Here is what I see as a chewy, moist, delicious, all-purpose Breakfast Bar recipe that you can play with and tweak to suit your own taste:
Nigella's Breakfast Bars
1 14-ounce can low-fat sweetened condensed milk; up to 1/4 cup of skim milk, if needed; 2+1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant); 1 cup shredded unsweetened flaked coconut; 1 cup dried cranberries; 1 cup mixed seeds (pumpkin, flax, sesame); 1 cup chopped walnuts.
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F and line a 9" x 11" pan with parchment paper or tin foil. Oil paper or foil. Stir together all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Pour in the condensed milk and stir to coat everything well, adding extra milk by the tablespoon if the mixture seems dry. You should be able to pinch some of the moistened oatmeal mixture and have it hold its shape. Press mixture down firmly into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour until firm and set. Let bars cool. Remove bars from the pan by lifting the edges of the parchment or foil. Chill the mass before cutting if you want neat-looking slices. These keep very well in the fridge but I usually freeze them.
The Breakfast Bar debate on the blog www.eatingoutloud.com stipulates that Heidi Swanson's Big Sur Power Bars from www.101cookbooks.com are even better than Nigellas's, with spot-on texture and flavour. Heidi's recipe has more to it, at first glance, including some harder to find ingredients like natural cane sugar, brown rice syrup and unsweetened crisp brown rice cereal, nothing a trip to a health food store couldn't resolve. I don't really fancy the inclusion of ground espresso beans and would substitute 1 tsp. ground cinnamon instead. I have included other possible substitutions as well.
Heidi's Big Sur Power Bars
1 cup pecans, chopped; 1 cup slivered almonds; 2/3 cup unsweetend shredded coconut; 1+1/4 cups rolled oats; 1+1/2 cups unsweetened crisp brown rice cereal (Rice Crispies OK - "puffed" rice not OK); 1 cup brown rice syrup (honey OK); 1/4 cup natural cane sugar (brown sugar OK); 1/2 tsp. fine-grain sea salt; 2 tbsp. ground espresso beans (or 1 tsp. ground cinnamon); 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan for thinner bars or an 8" x 8" pan for thicker bars. Toast pecans, almonds and coconut on a baking sheet in the oven until the coconut is golden, tossing once or twice along the way. Mix the oats, toasted nuts, coconut and cereal together in a large bowl and set aside.
Combine the rice syrup, sugar, salt, espresso and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly until it comes to a boil and thickens a bit, about 4 minutes. Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and stir until it is evenly incorporated.
Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and cool to room temperature before cutting into bars.
Makes 16 - 24 bars.
Power Bars
Speaking out in the blogosphere about better Breakfast Bars is Allen, the owner of www.eatingoutloud.com. He proclaims deep respect for Heidi's Big Sur Power Bar recipe, but had his own personal problem to resolve and therefore revised the recipe to meet his needs. You, in all likelihood, will not have his problem, namely a bumper crop of hickory nuts needing to be used. He used hickory nuts instead of pecans. He likes dried blueberries and added 1 cup of dried blueberries, along with 1/4 cup of flax seeds and 1/3 cup of raw sesame seeds. Allen also decided that cinnamon was more appealing than espresso and used 1 tsp. cinnamon instead of ground espresso. Allen's Power Bars, derived from Heidi's, are shown above.
You are now fully equipped to form your own opinions on Breakfast Bars! Try them and speak to me.
If you love Breakfast Bars, you probably need to read these books:
A to Z bar cookies / by Simmons, Marie.
Bars & squares : more than 200 recipes / by Snider, Jill.
Olives in market
True confession: my idea of fun is to comb the city in search of special foods that I don't find at the supermarket, like freshly baked Lebanese pita bread, tender and pliant and still faintly warm in its package, or 
frozen guava puree from Mexico which I use in fruit smoothies to add a tangy tropical note. There are lots of little shops scattered about the city with all kinds of edible treasures to explore. As if she was reading my mind, Calgary writer, chef and food lover dee Hobsbawn-Smith has just published an excellent little source book for finding fabulous food in the Calgary area:
SHOP talk - The Open-All-Hours Insider's Guide to Finding Great Ingredients in Calgary, the Bow Valley and Beyond by dee Hobsbawn-Smith
Shop talk is divided into 26 broad categores, with entries for Bakeries, Local Producers, Organics, Latin, Farmgate Sales, etc. With obvious relish and lots of flair, dee has done all the legwork for you, sourcing out where to find almost everything related to food in our region. Using this book provides many joys, from exploring new neighbourhoods to driving out to a farm to buy fresh from the source, to eating locally and, consequently, freshly. Some of my own favourite hunting grounds are included in Shop talk:
Montreal Bagels - 103, 8408 Elbow Drive SW 403-212-4060 I am from Montreal and I am here to say that these are the real thing, at least in the poppy seed/sesame seed permutation (say "white seed" or "black seed" to demonstrate real Montrealishness).
Village Pita Bakery and Mediterranean Food Store - 208, 255-28 28 Street NE 403-273-0330 For the most melt-in-your-mouth, supple pita breads, baked fresh on the premises, come to Village Pita and stay for lunch. A modest little lunch counter would have you think you were nowhere special, but the food will tell you differently. Have a spinach/feta pita with a large handful of napkins, and help yourselves to the free olives on the counter.
Fairmount Spiceland - 7640 Fairmount Drive SE (Astral Plaza) 403-225-7295 One of only a few places in the city where you can find fresh curry leaves. This is where I come to stock up my pantry with lentils, dried beans, rice and a large assortment of spices. Browse through the shelves to find Indian pickles and snacks, South African jams, pomegranate molasses and juice, plus many other ethnic ingredients.
Paolini's Sausage and Meats - 5735 3 Street SE 403-252-9000 This is as old-world a deli as you can get in the new world, with sausages hanging from the rafters, wiffs of smoked pork perfuming the air, homemade soup simmering in the back room. They carry a very good assortment of house-made cold cuts and sausages. Try their ravioli too, kept in the freezer.
Another true confession: the photo above of olives in a market is one I took on a trip to Turkey. How I wish I could say it was a local market!
As for frozen guava puree, go to La Tiendona Market - 1832 36th Street SE 403-272-4054. You can also stock up on black beans, masa harina, hot sauces and dried Mexican chiles, great for making your own spice mixes. Hey, that's a great idea for another post: Making your own spice blends! Coming soon . . . . . . . . .
You may want to chew on these titles for more foodie news:
My Favourite Cheap eats 2008 by John Gilchrist
The Food Lover's Trail Guide to Alberta, Volume II by Mary Bailey
My Favourite Restaurants in Calgary and Banff 2006 by John Gilchrist
. . . . . . . keeps the doctor away! Or, at least boosts our vitamin quotient. With autumn comes a new crop of crisp apples and I love incorporating apples into my meals, in salads, in soups, in desserts. Tart apples like Jonagolds lend themselves beautifully to salads like Mesclun Salad With Stilton, Grapes and Apples from the inspirational website www.epicurious.com. Make a vinaigrette by whisking together 2 tsp. Dijon mustard, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh thyme or sage, plus salt and pepper to taste. Toast 1/4 cup of sliced almonds. In a salad bowl mix together enough mesclun (assorted baby greens) to serve 4 people and 20 seedless grapes, halved. Toss greens and grapes with the vinaigrette and top with the toasted almonds, 1 crisp apple, cored and cut into 16 wedges, and 1/4 cup of crumbled Stilton or blue cheese. Gently combine and serve.
How about a lucsious, old-fashioned Sticky Apple Pudding With Toffee Sauce from the lovely book Apples - Recipes from Canada's best Chefs ? This dessert won 1st place in the annual Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival dessert competition in 2005, which is all the prodding I need to try it. I made it last night and it is a cross between good, tender gingerbread and sticky toffee pudding with dates, with unexpected bursts of little apple cubes. The dates are first cooked so that they melt into a moist, sweet base to which you add everything else. My family loved this simple yet elegant dessert which means it's a keeper:
2 cups apple cider or juice; 1/2 cup chopped dates; 4 tsp. baking soda; 1/3 cup butter, softened; 1+1/4 cups granulated sugar; 3 eggs; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 tbsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp. each ground nutmeg and cloves; 2 Cortland apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice; Toffee Sauce (recipe follows).
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9X13" cake pan. In a large saucepan, bring apple cider (or apple juice) and dates to a boil. Boil until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Mixture will froth and increase in volume. Cool the mixture for at least 30 minutes. In a mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder and spices. Stir flour alternately with date mixture into the egg mixture. Stir in diced apple. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in oven about 40 minutes, or until tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Serve warm with Toffee Sauce:
3/4 cup butter; 1+1/4 cup brown sugar; 3/4 cup heavy cream; 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract. In a saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Stir in cream and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes, or until mixture reaches 240 F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm.
Plenty of pudding for 8 people. I made extra toffee sauce, multiplying the recipe by 1.5, making enough sauce so that unnamed people could dip their eager fingers into it.
I must include another seasonal favourite of mine, apple chutney. There is something about the sweet/sour tease to the senses, the chunky texture, the deep tones and aromatic spiciness of chutney that speaks to me in the fall. Try this flavourful condiment with meats, fish, and cheese and crackers. It is from an old, worn recipe card from my personal stash, taken from a Gourmet Magazine issue from 1982!
Apple Chutney 
3/4 cup dark brown sugar; 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar; 10 medium-sized apples, peeled and diced; 1/2 cup golden raisins; 1/2 cup minced onion; 1/2 cup minced red pepper; 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice; 2 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated; 2 tsp. curry powder; 1 tsp. yellow mustard seeds; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes; 1+1/2 tsp. salt; 1/4 tsp. pepper or more to taste.
Combine sugar, vinegar and 3/4 cup water and cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Add apples and simmer for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and boil, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until apples are soft and the mixture is very thick. Store in the fridge. Can be frozen.
This recipe is also wonderful when made with fresh peaches, using about 12 large peaches. You can kick up the heat by including fresh, diced hot peppers in the mix. Try the variations and let me know how things turn out.
"Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants." This is sane advice. This is a summation of the wisdom to be found in Michael Pollan's new book "In Defense of Food - An Eater's Manifesto". Pollan's previous book titled "The Omnivore's Dilemma" created a huge conversation about the American, and North American, way of eating. "In Defense of Food" shows us what we need to know to unscrabble the American paradox which has more and more people becoming less and less healthy, all while being overly concerned about nutrition.
Why does food need defending? Much of what we eat, as a society, is not food, not produced by nature but by food science. With the industrialization of food, whole foods have become refined and processed. Archetypal "Mom" has lost her authority over meals as the food industry and nutritional science have shaken our confidence in common sense and tradition. We have shifted our trust over to the food industry whose "experts" guide us towards nutrients instead of foods. Michale Pollan strongly urges us to avoid food products that contain unpronouncable ingredients or that make health claims. With lively prose and logical clarity, Pollan points out the value of eating like the French. Or the Italians. Or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks. If these traditional diets weren't healthy, the diet and the people who followed it wouldn't still be around. We are reminded to eat meals. At a table, not in the car. A desk is not a table. We are urged to cook and to plant a garden.
Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat. "In Defense of Food" is an empassioned plea to reclaim our health and happiness as eaters. Let us point you to some ways to start your own journey to better eating and better living:
The glorious foods of Greece : traditional recipes from the islands, cities, and villages / by Kochilas, Diane.
Outstanding in the field : a farm to table cookbook / by Denevan, Jim.
Homegrown : pure and simple : great healthy food from garden to table / by Nischan, Michel.
For more farm to table food ideas, visit Farm-To-Table Cooking and Eating.
I have been baking for YEARS, close to 30 years if I count, and I thought I knew a thing or two about chocolate chip cookies. After much trial and error I have narrowed down my repertoire to two or three consistent recipes that yield perfectly acceptable results. All of these recipes are different versions of the same theme, a blend of butter (I despise margarine; no flavour and greasy), brown and white sugars, pure vanilla extract, pure bittersweet chocolate chips, optional nuts, etc. And everyone makes chocolate chip cookies, so I was not prepared to be blown away by yet another rendition. Then I met this recipe on the excellent website/food journal 101cookbooks.com. You may be wondering what could possibly be so great about it. Its excellence is all in the details and the perfect balance of the proportions. Heidi Swanson, the creator of 101cookbooks.com, describes these extraordinary cookies, which she found in the book The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz: "A high chip to dough ratio guarantees lots of chocolate in every bite, and the walnuts add crunch, density, and a delicious flavor to the overall mix. If you like a thin and crispy chocolate chip cookie, pass on this one. If you like them substantial, big, rich, chunky, gooey, and decadent.......this recipe is all yours". Let me add my own 2-cents, after just eating one on my coffee break: the brown sugar gives the cookie a butterscotch-y chewiness, offset by the toasty crunch of walnuts and the deep bittersweet hits of chocolate. All the flavours meld together in a perfect marriage.
Enough said; here is the recipe for the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever eaten, and I have eaten a few 
. . . . . .
THE GREATEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE
1/2 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar; 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into 1/2" pieces; 1 large egg; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1+1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1+1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips; 1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped.
Beat the sugars and butter together until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Stir together the flour, salt and baking soda then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts. Chill dough overnight or for at least 3 hours.
Adjust the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 300 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place balls 4 inches apart on the baking sheet. Flatten each ball very slightly with the palm of your hand.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Do not overbake if you want a good, chewy texture. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Make about 20 cookies.
Of course, there are other wonderful chocolate chip cookie recipes in the world and in our library collection. For a little variety, try these books:
The essential chocolate chip cookbook : recipes from the classic cookie to mocha chip meringue cake / by Klivans, Elinor.
Maida Heatter's book of great chocolate desserts / by Heatter, Maida.