Birdseye Chili

Salad dressings

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:35:00 +0000

I felt this blog needed a bit of an upgrade with a few new features. I now have a proper About page, as well as a Recipe Index. I invite you to check them out using the links on the sidebar.

When I was indexing all the recipes, I realized how little I post about salad, even though it is my staple lunch item when I'm at work. I find it easy to compose a salad, especially when the dressings are waiting in my little bar fridge at work.

Throw together a few different types of leaves, a sliced apple and carrot, a few pecans, some feta and dried cranberries and you have a healthy and filling lunch. The ingredients vary slightly from day to day with different nuts, hard-boiled eggs, sometimes sliced cucumber, sometimes small broccoli florets. But the basic structure is always the same: leaves, veg, fruit and some kind of protein.

Here are two of my favourite salad dressings. Both last a couple of weeks in my bar fridge and enable me to stay motivated to eat healthy at work.

Maple-Balsamic Dressing

If you use the ratio method for this dressing, you can make as much or as little as you like. I usually make enough to fill two-thirds of a small glass jar. It's easy to shake and store.

- add equal parts balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and olive oil into a tightly-lidded container
- crank in some freshly-ground pepper & sprinkle in a tiny bit of salt
- shake, taste, then modify the taste by adding more vinegar, syrup or oil depending on your personal taste

Low-Fat Creamy Goat Cheese Herb Dressing

This makes a lot of dressing. You may wish to cut the recipe in half if you don't plan to eat salad every day for a week and a half.

- 1/2 - 1 cup of plain yogurt, depending on how flow-y you want the dressing
- 1/2 cup goat cheese
- 1/2 block of soft silken tofu (about 6 oz by weight)
- lemon zest from 1/2 a lemon
- a few glugs of olive oil, for body (I typically use 2 tbsp, but you can use less or more)
- 1/3 cup sundried tomatos, either packed in oil, or if dried, reconstitute in hot water first
- 1/2 cup chopped herbs: parsley, oregano & thyme all work well
- a healthy amount salt & pepper since the tofu is essentially tasteless

Process everything in a food processor. Modify the taste according to your preference. I find the goat cheese fairly acidic, so that's why I like to use the olive oil to contrast this. If you like it even more acidic, feel free to add some lemon juice. This dressing is fairly creamy. If it's too thick for you, you can add more yogurt or even some water to thin it out.

If I'm getting tired of this dressing, I drain the excess liquid by placing it in a coffee filter in a sieve over a bowl. The resulting thick "yogurt cheese" is a perfect spread for bread or crackers.

Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:14:00 +0000

When I first started eating Indian curries, back when I was a student, I knew there was something special going on. The depths and layers of flavour in one bite were pretty astounding, and very different from the type of food I had been used to. When I tried to replicate these meals at home, the results were nowhere near as complex and delicious as from my favourite restaurants. Even those sub-par greasy Indian joints could make better curries than I could at home.

Then, about two years ago, I came across this post at TheKitchn, and my technique changed. In that article, the authors describe how to build layers of flavour, starting with spices, onions, ginger/garlic, tomatoes, then finally adding meat. It is no coincidence however, that the article was posted in their "Weekend Cooking" series. It takes a long time to cook, but thankfully, much of that time is inactive.

I recently made a version of this curry for our iPad announcement party - yes, we're big geeks! I began cooking at 11am and we ate at 6:30pm. Please don't be discouraged though: active cooking time was less than 1 hour!

As a bonus, I was able to clean the house, do laundry, and prepare everything else for the meal in between attending to the curry. The only cleaning I like to do involves the kitchen, so I need to play a little game with myself for the remainder of the house. This game is akin to a parenting strategy I often hear: "Let me time you to see how fast you can put away your toys!" except for me it's "Can I dust the entire house before I have to stir the onions again?"

Since the curry takes some effort and time, I've increased the recipe to yield a whole pot! This provides our small family of two 5 generous meals. The goal is always to freeze some and eat it later, but we love it so much we just eat it for 5 days in a row!

I also changed the recipe from the original to suit our preferred spices and heat levels. I've tried it with beef, bison, lamb and chicken. All worked well, although the red meats take much longer.

Spicy Northern-Style Indian Curry

active cooking time: less than 1 hour
inactive cooking time: ranging from 2-3 hours for chicken to 6-7 hours for beef
yield: 10 generous portions

Please don't be discouraged by the amount of spices included in the recipe. In fact, if you don't have these, use others. I have experimented with other combinations, and allspice and fennel would are nice here too. Amchur powder is another one I've used sometimes. Again, the time commitment here is largely non-active. Cleaning the house, or reading a book is a good complimentary activity.

Clockwise from top: cinnamon, bay leaves, black pepper, cloves, yellow mustard seed, black mustard seed, cumin, black cardamom, green cardamom, star anise

Ingredients:
- canola oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pot, maybe 1/3 cup
- pinch of asafoetida (omit if you can't find it)
- 2 two-inch cinnamon sticks
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 15 whole cloves
- 1 tsp white mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- 4 black cardamoms
- 6 green cardamoms
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek (I didn't use it this time)
- 2 star anise

- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 4 large onions, sliced
- salt

- 5 fresh or frozen red chillies (we use about 10-15, but for guests, 5 chillies yield a medium heat level)
- 2-inch piece of ginger (I freeze mine, then it makes it easier to grate)
- 4 garlic cloves (or more if you like)
- 1 large can whole tomatoes
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 jar tomato puree (if you don't have your own, use another can)- 1 tbsp garam masala, or more

- 5 lbs cubed beef, bison, lamb or chicken, or more, or less

- large handful of coriander and fresh chillies for garnish, if you like

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium-high. I use an enamelled cast iron dutch oven. Sprinkle in the asafoetida, let it sizzle for a few seconds, then toss in all the whole spices. Fry the spices in the oil until you hear or see the mustard seeds and cumin start to pop, approximately 2 minutes.

2. At this point, quickly add all the onions, a generous pinch of salt, along with the turmeric. Stir to coat the onions with the oil and spices. Let the onions saute on low heat for 30-45 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot if some bits get stuck. You can add some water if you notice the onions sticking too much. Return to the pot every 15-20 minutes to stir the onions.

3. Add the chillies, garlic and ginger, along with the tomato products. Cook for another 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes. Taste the curry at this point and add more salt since the tomatoes often need it to enhance their flavour. The curry will be ready when the oil separates from the sauce. You will see it floating on top of the tomatoes and it will look a little darker than the remainder of the sauce.

4. At this point, add in the garam masala and the cubed meat. For chicken, the curry will be ready in 20 minutes. For red meat, it sometimes takes another 2 hours, or even 3 hours, depending on the size of the cubes and quality of the cut. Stir the curry every 20-30 minutes. I usually start cooking the curry around lunchtime, then just let it simmer on low until the meat is done. If it's tender before dinner, I just reheat it when it's time to serve.

5. Serve over basmati rice, garnishing with cilantro and fresh chillies if you like.

elimination

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:32:00 +0000

I haven't been feeling 100% lately, so I'm back to doing the elimination diet my naturopath gave me a few years ago. The idea is that you detox for about a month, eliminating common allergens in food, then reintroduce each eliminated item every few days to test its effect.

I'm eliminating the following:
- all gluten
- dairy
- sugar
- red meat
- all processed foods
- caffeine
- alcohol
- white rice and other processed grains

I started just a few days before Halloween. So far, so good. It's easier now than it has been in the past, which I attribute mostly to increased awareness about gluten-free diets. I have a great recipe for gluten-free sandwich bread, and also for flat bread, so I'm not missing much of that.

In terms of eating out, we've been to Las Palapas and Keo's since beginning the diet and they were both extremely accommodating. At Las Palapas I had enchiladas with a mole sauce, and at Keo's, a spicy thai curry with coconut milk. I definitely didn't feel deprived.

This kind of eating challenges my cooking and creativity. I'm enjoying that part of it. The best compliment was my husband saying that it doesn't even feel like we're on any restrictive diet. Now, he does eat dairy and bread still, but mostly for breakfast and lunch. Dinners we eat together, so he does follow the elimination diet along with me for that meal.

Here are some examples of my meals:

Breakfast
- during the week: fruits, or fruit-tofu smoothies
- weekend: eggs with polenta, oatmeal with rice milk, gf bread with honey

Lunch
- random mix of veg, fruit, nuts, leaves, flatbread & dips
- for example: apple, carrot, cucumber, spinach, pecans with bean dip

Dinner
- goat cheese/tofu/artichoke dip with chicken wings
- chicken curry with brown rice
- thai coconut soup with rice noodle
- homemade corn tortillas with turkey, cilantro and my own taco sauce
- fish with asian fried millet

I'm enjoying making all kinds of new foods but most importantly, I'm happy that I feel healthy.

Chanterelles

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:50:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I went to the mini-farmer's market that has set up on 8th Street at Preston on Thursday mornings. I was surprised to see a vendor selling chanterelles. We chatted for a while and he told me they are from Northern Saskatchewan, picked by himself and a few friends. They looked like the mushrooms I knew from my visits to Poland - "kurki."

I remember kurki in butter as being one of my favourite things to eat at my Grandparents' home. I remember my Grandmother standing at the stove stirring the mushrooms until they glistened. I remember her serving them with barley or just simply over good bread. I remember her delegating my sister and I to make the tea. I remember sitting at the large table scarfing down the best meals made by Grandma. I miss her a lot.

Well, I thought I might call my Mom to ask about these chanterelles and if they were really kurki. I bought a bag and before supper, called to confirm. Yes, indeed, chanterelles are kurki. After a quick consultation on the best way to cook them, I started down memory lane.

Always up for a challenge, I decided to attempt to make homemade pasta, by myself, without a pasta-roller-machine-thingy. Good thing Ian and I had just received a wonderful present from my Parents for our 5th wedding anniversary:

This thing mixes, whips and kneads beautifully. I have already made meringues, a pavlova, whole-wheat bread, two batches of brioche, coffee cake and it's only been three weeks! The mixer made quick work of the pasta dough, turning it silky smooth. I absolutely love my new toy. Thank you Mom and Dad!

My first attempt at hand-rolling pasta was a disaster. I needed to call in reinforcements in the form of Ian's forearms. It's so hard to get the sheets thin enough. I used a recipe from Jamie Oliver's book, Cook with Jamie, and he recommends the thickness of the pasta sheets be somewhere between a beer coaster and a playing card. Eventually, we just settled on the beer coaster.

We didn't have the proper flour (00 type), or the proper machinery, or even, the right amount of patience, but the meal ended up just perfect!

While I was cutting the pasta into strips, Ian quickly sauteed half an onion in butter, then added the chanterelles with some salt and pepper. Then, when Ian was setting the table, I melted some more butter and placed the drained pasta into the mushroom mixture. Finally, when Ian was getting the camera ready, I mixed in even more butter through the pasta to coat and sprinkled over a tablespoon of fresh dill (Can you tell? Us Polish folks like their butter!)

Mmmm, these were just the flavours I remembered from my Grandparents' home.

It's curious how this simple meal of mushrooms and pasta brought back so many emotions for me. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to visit my Grandparents, help them in their garden, cook with Grandma in her tiny kitchen and eat these amazing fresh foods as a teenager. I feel blessed to be able to continue my Grandma's cooking. I feel a little sad that I'll never see Grandma again. But most of all, I feel happy to have kept many beautiful and joyful memories.

cheese, please.

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:46:00 +0000

I'm looking to try different kinds of cheeses, and my go-to place in Saskatoon is the Bulk Cheese Warehouse. Check out my conversation with the owner, Scott Bartlett, on foodtv.ca.

It was so interesting to hear him tell stories about cheese, business plans, the butcher shop and local food culture. Wow, that guy is a great storyteller. Thank you Scott!

Caffe Sola

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:53:00 +0000

Check out my review of Caffe Sola on the Food Network Canada site.

Here is a cool pic that didn't make it onto their website. The chairs are so interesting! If anyone knows what the source is for these, please let me know.

Coming up on foodtv.ca: my profile of the BulkCheese Warehouse.

Coming up on birdseyechili: the best beef curry I know how to make...thus far.

Long time no write + how to save money

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Well, friends: it's been a while. Let all the usual excuses apply (she says, embarrassed)...

Now let's move on.

As those that know me just a little bit will attest, I loathe throwing away food. Maybe this comes from my thrifty upbringing, what with the second-hand clothing, price-comparing at the grocery store, and going without until I've saved enough to buy that one quality item. Now that I'm grown up, even the lowliest of fridge-dwellers get turned into something edible....I've been known to caramelize a pair of squishy onions and freeze them before going on vacation because I couldn't bear to compost them! Yes, I know. It's strange.

I'm not sure If I should even tell you the extent of this, but here goes:

I freeze end bits of dried and stale bread. That's right. I cut them into cubes and add them to a zip-top bag in the freezer. Dried baguettes, stale toast, hardened whole-wheat loves, you name it. Artisan bread just isn't as good the day after it's baked, so off to the cutting board, and into cubes it goes. Each end-piece ends up yielding about 1/2 to 1 cup. Slowly, I fill that zip-top bag. Then I use the cubed bread for croutons, stuffing, meatloaf, and breadcrumbs.

As a result of this thriftiness gene, once every two weeks, we eat a refrigerator-clean-up soup, or stew, or curry, or casserole, or fried rice, or ... (you get the idea)... This practice allows me to use up all those left-over bits of herbs, vegetables, cheeses and meals that would otherwise make it to the garbage or compost bin. Of course, each "clean-up meal" provides us with a hearty dinner and plenty of left-overs for Ian to take to work for lunch. Food is used that would otherwise be composted and therefore, money saved.

There is essentially one technique for each of these refrigerator-clean-up meals, but the ingredients change based on what needs to be "cleaned up". I have already gone the stew, curry and casserole route for dinner, so I decided it was time to tackle breakfast. And luckily, I had a bag of quality bread cubes to use.

Of course, the point of this meal is to use what you have. I image this would be yummy with left-over beans, mushrooms, basil, parsley, basically any kind of herb, roasted vegetables, corn, chilis, bits of left-over chicken or steak, fried tofu or tempeh. Use what's in your fridge! The combination below happens to be what I had in my fridge last night.

Another added bonus is that you assemble everything the night before and the bread soaks up the egg and milk mixture overnight. In the morning, while you're having your first cup of coffee, just pop the entire thing into oven, and 40min later you have a delicious breakfast...to go with your second cup of coffee!

Breakfast casserole
- one large zip-top bag of old bread cubes
- couple of slices of bacon, cubed
- 2 sausages, sliced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1 zucchini, sliced in rounds
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 inch piece of goat cheese
- left-over bit of aged cheddar
- Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
- 10 eggs
- 4 cups milk, or more

1. Fry bacon and sausage until crispy. Add onions and saute until softened.

2. In the meantime, pour bread cubes into a large casserole dish and mix thoroughly so that all the different kinds are incorporated together.

3. Once the bacon and onion mixture is cooked, add it to the bread along with tomato, peas, crumbled goat cheese, other cheeses.

4. Saute the zucchini rounds in the left-over bacon fat (mmm, bacon fat) and add it to the bread mixture. Mix thoroughly so everything is incorporated.

5. Whisk the eggs and milk, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the bread. Tilt the pan to make sure the liquid is evenly dispersed, then cover and let sit in the fridge overnight.

6. When ready to bake, set the oven to 350 degrees and stir the mixture so the top gets moistened. Top with more cheese, and bake 30-40 minutes. I didn't preheat the oven, and mine was ready in about 60 minutes. I imagine that the time varies depending on your casserole and how full it is - test it by spooning a little out of the middle and seeing if it's hot.

The texture was like a savory french toast - crispy on the top and creamy/custard-like in the middle. As a bonus, we now have breakfast for the week! I'll portion the casserole into cubes and store individual pieces in glass containers ready to microwave in the mornings.

Now go off to investigate what's lurking in the depths of your fridge and make a clean-up meal for yourself!

Chard and beet green tart

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:06:00 +0000

Even though I don't usually cook from recipes, I am often inspired by recipes when making a new dish. As I've written before, I often check out my favourite cookbooks, blogs and chef's sites for the perfect blend of ingredients to make a dish. Then I modify these into the one recipe I will use.

Lately though, I've been just been pulling recipes straight out of my head. And they've been working! I suppose it's all the time I have now, you know, being on vacation and all :)

Earlier this week I made a Vietnamese tofu bun, complete with my own sauce, which brought me back to the days when I was a student in good old Toronto. Those were the days. Waking up late, subway to school, a little Vietnamese for lunch (toronto.com link) and a stroll through the ROM in the afternoon. I often picked up dinner ingredients from mom n' pop shops in the Bloor West Village (where I lived) and made some delicious eats for one. Evenings spent out with friends for drinks, a movie or a show. Or window-shopping. Oh, the shopping.

That bun tasted like my favourite Vietnamese joint in Toronto, so much so that I'll have to make it again and write down the quantities so I can share with you all.

In the meantime, I'd like to share a recipe for a tart I made a couple of nights ago. Ian's verdict: "Delicious! It's like getting the vegetables for free!" And his follow-up tweet: "Even better than free. Most people would pay to take veggies away." Aww, I love my husband.

I created this recipe just as it was happening, and I'm happy to say, we enjoyed it so much, I will make it again. I also used a fancier setup for the photos, which took longer, but since the tart needs to rest before cutting, the timing worked out well.

As always with my recipes, I invite you to use what you have. I made my own pastry, but if you wanted, you could use frozen pie shells as a short-cut (I did this my entire life until I recently bought a tart pan and now have the time to make my own!). I had left-over garlic butter (from garlic bread a few days before), so I used that to flavour the greens. But you could just use olive oil, or butter, or butter with a bit of chopped garlic.

You can also replace the shallots with one medium red or white onion. If you don't have the same kind of cheeses we did, just use what you have - it'll work! I promise! Finally, we used Andouille sausage from Oyama Sausage at the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver. You could use any kind of left-over meat: Italian sausage, roasted chicken, bit of left-over ham. For a vegetarian version, replace the meat with more mushrooms, or even sauteed herbed tofu.

Since this recipe comes together in separate parts, I recommend you season each part as you cook it. In fact, I like to season each ingredient as I add it. Just a little salt and pepper for each, then taste and modify if needed. That way, the flavours will build in layers and you will get nice depth of flavour throughout the entire dish.

"Free Vegetable" Savory Tart

for the pastry (modified from The Best of Baking <-- everyone should own this!)
- 1 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- pinch salt
- 7 tbsp butter (about 4/5 of a stick, or 100 g)
- 1-4 tbsp ice-cold water

for the filling
- left-over garlic butter
- one large bunch Swiss chard
- one large bunch beet greens
- 3 shallots, sliced thinly
- 7 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
- 1 foot-long Andouille sausage

- salt and pepper
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 6 tbsp softened cream cheese
- 4 slices feta, crumbled (about 1/2 cup, maybe?)
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for top
- 6 chives, finely chopped

1. For the pastry, mix flour and salt in a food processor (or by hand if you're not lazy like me). Add the chopped butter and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg and pulse. Add ice-water in 1 tbsp intervals until dough has enough "stick" to it to easily come together (I used 2 tbsp in my climate).

2. Dump it onto the counter and push it together into a disk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes. When ready to use, lightly flour a surface and roll into a circle (obviously!). Gently lay into a tart or pie pan without stretching. Press into sides. Leave the excess for folding over, or cut off excess.

3. While the pastry dough is resting, clean the greens, dry and chop them. I chopped the chard into roughly inch-long pieces, and the been greens into ribbons. But you decide how you like it. Also, slice shallots and mushrooms thinly.

4. In a medium saute pan on medium heat, melt a tsp of butter and saute chard with a bit of salt, then set aside. Then saute beet greens (add bit of salt) and set aside. More butter or oil, add shallots for 1 min, then add mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper. Saute until most of the moisture has evaporated out of the mushrooms. Add sausage and heat through for another 2-3 minutes.

5. Mix greens and mushroom mixture in a bowl and set into fridge to cool a bit. In the meantime, beat the eggs and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, adding salt and pepper to taste.

** Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. **

6. Roll out tart and lay into pan. When tart is ready, combine the greens and egg mixtures. Place solids into tart, distributed evenly. Pour liquids over top, and jiggle the tart to distribute liquids. Grate a bit of parmesan over the top. If you have left-over pastry edges, fold them down on top of the tart.

7. Put a sheet pan or some foil under the tart pan to catch drippings. Bake for 40-50 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Let the tart rest for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve generous pieces with salad or by themselves.

This made a great dinner, but I could also see this as an awesome brunch or lunch item too! Enjoy!

Breakfast cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:55:00 +0000

When zipping out the door in the mornings at 6:30 or 7 a.m., we tend to forget about breakfast. I know it's unhealthy, but it's just the reality of a busy life.

To combat that, every few weeks for the last year I have made two loaves and a pile of muffins of some sort of breakfast-type healthy breads. We portion them off into tupperware and zip-top bags and freeze individual portions. This way, we can grab one from the freezer the night before to defrost, and voila - healthy breakfast on the go!

Some weeks the flavours are zucchini-carrot, other weeks it's banana-walnut-cranberry. I basically use what I have and strive to make this a healthy quick meal in one. I add plenty of nuts and seeds, and always use fresh veggies or fruit. There is often only 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/3 cup oil in the whole batter! (that's for two breads and a dozen muffins). The rest of the sweetness comes from honey, maple syrup, applesauce or cranberries and the breads are moist as a result of prune puree, yogurt or applesauce.

But lately I've become tired of eating these breads. Even though the flavours vary, the texture and shape remain the same and have started to bore me. So last week, I decided to modify my recipe into a seedy and dense breakfast cookie. That's right, a cookie for breakfast.

I was quite surprised at how well these turned out and will most definitely make them again. In fact, these would be perfect as road trip snacks (which we had on our recent trip to Vancouver!), as power boosts during a hike or as a mid-morning snack to hold you over if you have a late lunch. I'm also going to try spreading the batter into a square pan and cutting power-bar-like shapes as an easier and faster alternative to placing and spacing cookies.

Breakfast cookies
(an original recipe)

dry:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup kamut flour (can use spelt, whole wheat, or white)
- 4 tbsp freshly ground flax seed
- 1/2 cup wheat germ
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda

wet:
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/8 to 1/3 cup Demerara sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 cup old fashioned oats, soaked in 1 cup hot water for 5-10 min

mix-ins:
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened, but if you have unsweetened, add more sugar)
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans (or other nuts that you have)
- 2/3 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350F/175 C. Line a cookie sheet with a silicon mat or coat with butter.

1. Put on 1 cup of water to boil and place oats in a small cereal bowl. When water is boiling, pour over oats and cover with a plate. Let stand until you're ready for them, 5-10 min.

2. In a medium bowl, stir all dry ingredients together.

3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, and incorporate with a whisk. Stir in vanilla and milk.

4. Drain any excess water from oats. Stir in dry ingredients into wet, alternating with adding oats. Be sure that you stir quickly after each addition of the hot oats so eggs don't cook.

5. Stir in the mix-ins, making any substitutions you like, but keep the entire quantity the same (just over 2 cups). Spoon onto cookie sheet, flatten, and bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops brown slightly.

I wanted substantial cookies, so I made 7 large cookies in each batch for a total of 14 cookies. If you make normal sized ones, you could probably get 20 cookies out of this batter.

Fresh summer pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:00:00 +0000

On Saturday mornings, Ian and I like to go to the Saskatoon Farmer's Market. We have supported it since we arrived in Saskatoon. Then, it was located in a street in front of City Hall, but now it has its own building and market square on the riverfront.

As the general population becomes more conscious about being 'green' and eating local, the market has become busier and busier. It makes sense: to really know what you're buying, it helps to buy from the producer. I particularly like our city's market because it has a strict 'sell your own stuff' policy:

Members must make, bake or grow whatever they are selling. It is not permitted to buy and re-sell at the market. Each individual...must be personally present to operate their stall.

At the Saskatoon Farmer's Market, I can talk to Clifford, the flour guy, about his ultra-clean grains and to Wally, the urban gardener, about his micro-greens. I'm able to ask re-planting advice for the herbs I bought from Helga and am instructed on the benefits of local honey to help curb allergies from the Bee Lady.

The first Saturday of summer (yesterday) started off with a trip to the market and a decision to make 'green' pasta. That is, pasta made with green, local, seasonal, ingredients.

It mostly worked: the kale, zucchini and lemon were from Dad's, and the salt, pepper, onion, cheese and oil were imported. But the rest were all bought from the producers at the market.

Fresh Summer Pasta

- 3 servings fresh linguine

- small bag micro-arugula

- 4 stalks green garlic, minced

- 7 stalks asparagus, chopped into inch-long pieces

- 2 sprigs thyme

- 1 zucchini, sliced

- 2 leaves kale

- half an onion, chopped roughly

- zest and juice from half a lemon

- parmesan cheese to taste

- salt and pepper to taste

- olive oil to taste

1. Boil water for the pasta. Generously salt the water. Meanwhile, prepare all the vegetables.

2. Heat as large an amount of olive oil as you like in a large pan (2-3 tbsp) on med-high heat. Saute the onion and garlic, seasoned with salt and pepper, until translucent. Add zucchini and cook long enough so it gains some colour.

3. Meanwhile, remove the kale from the stock and roughly chop into small-ish pieces. Add asparagus, kale and thyme leaves to the pan.

4. Drain pasta in a colander when ready and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and grated parmesan.

5. Combine pasta with sauteed vegetables, lemon juice and zest and arugula. The arugula will wilt from the residual heat of the pasta and pan. If you like, add more oil and parmesan for a creamier texture.

Serves 3 very hungry people as a main course, or 5 as a side dish.

Fiddleheads

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:01:00 +0000

February 20. The date of my last post here.

It's been a while friends. This past semester has been difficult with two new preps, a few behaviourally-challenged students, and unfortunately, many nights of eating out or ordering in. But exam week is over now, and in one short week - SUMMER! The time of lazying around, planting herbs, experimenting with our new-to-us-but-used barbecue and mid-morning yoga classes. I can't wait. Of course, summer also comes with new blog-updating-resolutions.

Having a little more time this past week allowed me to pick up some locally-grown and handpicked fiddleheads. These are the curled fronds of a young fern plant. If you've ever seen them growing, they start off looking like a violin scroll, then unfurl into a fern plant. I tried them for the first time one year ago in New Brunswick - actually, I tasted them off a plate of one of my fellow-conference goers. Interesting texture: crisp on the outside with a soft middle.

Even though I had time to pick these up at a specialty store, apparently I didn't have time to research their proper and safe preparation. Don't worry, we were all fine, no one got sick. But as I was checking out the details for this post, I found out my method of cooking was not the most safe - oops! I've modified the recipe to include what I would do next time:

Sauteed Fiddleheads

- 1 bag fiddleheads - I had enough to serve 3 as a side dish

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 tbsp butter (or more!)

- pinch salt

- few cranks fresh ground pepper

1. Boil some water in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, clean the fiddleheads, cutting off any black/brown parts, and washing the fronds of dirt.

2. Blanch (that means throw into the boiling water) the fiddleheads in the water for 7-10 minutes (this is the part I didn't do!) until crisp but not soggy. Shock them by placing in a bowl of ice water. Insert a sieve first for easy retrieval.

3. Melt butter in saute pan on medium heat and cook garlic for 1 min or until fragrant but not burnt. Meanwhile, pat dry the fiddleheads with paper towel or clean dish towel. Add the dry fiddleheads, salt and pepper to the butter and saute until heated through, about 2-3 minutes.

I served these with trout and mashed potatoes adorned with chives from my garden. Yum!

Easy lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:03:00 +0000

Yesterday Ella and I made a quick and light salad for lunch. I'm almost embarrassed to call this a recipe - it was that easy.

Smoked Salmon Salad

Arrange smoked salmon on a large plate and grate some lemon zest over the top. Dot on some goat cheese, sprinkle with baby arugula and top with a generous amount of capers. Drizzle on fresh lemon juice* and eat!

*If you like, you can also drizzle with good quality olive oil, but we found the salmon already quite oily so omitted this step.

Stupid internal clock

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:23:00 +0000

I am now on our annual February Break. To clarify, that doesn't mean I don't work, just that I work from home and get to wear pajamas. Last Saturday was my first Saturday off. Guess what time I got up on that first Saturday morning off? You won't believe me, but I swear it's true: 5:30 a.m.

Stupid internal clock.

I was fully awake and ready to take on the day. I guess when I wake up that early every day (sometimes I sleep in till 6 a.m...), I am just physically unable to sleep in. Finally today, a full four days into the break, I slept until 8 a.m. Whoa, I'm outta control now!

So what do I do when I wake up at 5:30 in the morning on my first Saturday off work? Why, make Sticky Cinnamon Pecan Buns of course! The original recipe comes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I found it via Jaden, who inspired me by her gorgeous photographs and quick wit. The book has already been put on hold for me from our local library, so all you Saskatoonians who read this blog will have to wait at least another three weeks :)

The basic idea is this: you make a huge batch of Master No-Kneed Dough and keep in your fridge for two weeks or so. Anytime you wish to have Artisan Bread (or Sticky Cinnamon Pecan Buns), you just rip off a chunk of dough, preheat your oven, do 5-10 minutes of prep, and you're 30 min away from eating delicious, essentially no-work, bread.

Sticky Cinnamon Pecan Buns
From Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

I changed a few things from the original found here.

Dough - instead of using 7 cups white flour, I used 6 cups white, 1 cup spelt (next time I'll add more spelt)

Topping - instead of brown sugar, I used organic Demerara sugar (next time, I'll use less butter)

Filling - instead of white sugar, I used some local honey and more Demerara

Method - I used two chunks of the Master Dough which essentially doubled the recipe. I didn't double the amount of topping or filling though. When it came time to roll, I rolled the dough pretty thin because I wanted small buns. (next time, I'll try to roll bigger buns)

We had them for breakfast and they were delicious. And look - here's Adam's Food Negation Theory coming into effect: 4 sticky buns followed by a quarter of a honeydew. STICKY BUNS NEGATED.

Happy '08 + Kulfi

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:20:00 +0000

I figured I better get a post in before the end of January so that I can still say Happy New Year to you all without feeling too embarassed:

Happy 2008 to all my readers! May your year be filled with delicious food experiences, stimulating conversations and exciting adventures - do something crazy and unexpected this year!

Now after the uncomfortable-ness of those first few lines (sorry I've been away!), I bring you the kulfi recipe that I promised a few months ago.

Kulfi is an Indian frozen dessert that isn't quite like ice cream. Ice cream is typically churned to inject air and produce a creamy texture. Kulfi is made with flavoured boiled milk that reduces and thickens naturally. The milk is cooled and frozen, resulting in quite a dense texture.

I don't have time or patience for that. Sitting there for hours waiting for the milk to boil and reduce, all the while watching that it doesn't scorch the bottom of the pan? Come on. There's no way. And once you burn the milk, you'll never overcome that burnt taste. That batch is going to have to be dumped. Not to mention that your kitchen will smell like burnt milk for hours. Gross.

It's much easier to use my method adapted from here. Here's the secret ingredient. Can you guess what it is without scrolling down? :)

Yup, cubed white bread.

This adds in some of that denseness without having to stand over the stove boiling the milk for hours.

My adaptations grew in a large part from my desire to have kulfi whenever I wanted. So, I've multiplied the original recipe by approximately 2.5.

As such, we have now re-christened the frozen orange juice drawer in our freezer as the kulfi drawer.

"Where's the frozen spinach?" husband asks.

"In the kulfi drawer," I reply.

Here's the final product. Hey, it's hard to take photos of frozen things!

Kulfi
adapted from Mercedes at Desert Candy

3 cups whole milk (use the rest of the carton to make your own paneer or ricotta cheese!)
2 cans evaporated milk, 370mL each
2 cans sweetened condensed milk, 300mL each
8 slices white bread, crusts removed (use the rest to make stuffing!)
3 tsp cardamom seeds, slightly crushed
10-20 cardamom pods (I love cardamom, so I add lots!)
3 inch-long cinnamon sticks
pinch saffron strands (optional)
pinch salt
4 tbsp finely ground pistachios, plus more chopped pistachios for serving

1. If you have saffron, sprinkle it into 1 cup of the whole milk and let it sit while you ready the other ingredients.

2. Combine rest of milks, cardamom seeds, salt, 4 tbsp pistachios in a large pot. Use an herb ball or tea ball to hold the cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks. If you don't have such a contraption, just add these in loose but make sure you've written down how many pods and sticks you have to fish out before blending.

3. Add in saffron-infused milk. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring and being careful to not burn the milk.

4. Fish out the herb ball or loose cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks. Cube white bread and add it in. Let sit for 5 minutes while the bread gets heavy with the milk mixture. It should look lumpy like this.

5. Time for the power tools. Transfer to a blender, and blend, baby, blend! Note: with my quantities, I do this in two batches.

6. Ladle carefully into any molds you can find in your house. We use espresso cups, various ramekin sizes, small tea cups, and shot glasses. I figure that using a variety of sizes allows me to choose the amount of decadence I want. Although, inevitably, the larger containers go first, then we're left with the measly shot glasses. The photo below shows the quantity that this recipe makes, plus another 7 kulfi "popsicles" that I'd already put into the freezer.

7. Let cool, then transfer to a freezer drawer (or set on a tray), covered with plastic wrap. The smaller containers will be ready in 4 hours and the larger ones will be ready the next day.

8. When ready to eat, either sprinkle with chopped pistachios and eat out of the mold, or loosen the kulfi with a hot water bath and invert onto a plate, then garnish.

Note: kulfi will be very hard right out of the freezer. I usually set it out to soften for 10-15 minutes before serving. That way, my spoons don't get all bent up!

C'mon, take a bite!

It's smooth...

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:43:00 +0000

1 block soft organic tofu (from Dad's) +
2 frozen mango halves +
5-6 frozen strawberries +
1/2 frozen banana +
1/2 cup your favourite yogurt (if you're not vegan) +
1 cup or more fancy juice, like pomegranate or açaí =

a rich, creamy and (surprisingly) filling breakfast.* Yum!

* You have to blend everything first, then you get the smooth goodness :)

A-roasting we will go

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:14:00 +0000

Obtain an acorn squash or two from your local farmer's market or organic produce store and cut it in half. Take a moment to be amazed by the squash.

Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Sprinkle with red onion, chopped garlic, fresh thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.

Place in a roasting pan and roast at 400F about 1 hour until almost cooked through.

In the meantime, scour your fridge for any left-over vegetables, nuts, dried fruit, grains and herbs. Chop everything into fairly small pieces.

Next, brown some ground pork, ground beef, spicy sausage, or even rehydrated textured vegetable protein in a fry-pan.

Remove meat once cooked through and sauté vegetables in the same pan until tender.

Add in browned meat, grains, dried fruit, nuts and herbs. Mix thoroughly.

Stuff into roasted squash and bake until squash is very tender, another 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy with a nice glass of white wine.

Best Indian Food Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:14:00 +0000

Check out my profile of the Taj Mahal on the food network site!

...and stay tuned for my interpretation of kulfi this weekend - mmm, cardamom, saffron and pistachios. You don't even need an ice cream machine for my version!!

More on foodtv!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 04:24:00 +0000

Here's my second entry for Food Network Canada.

And, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about all my peeps (ok, Ula, my dear sister, don't laugh at me for saying "peeps") who posted a comment on the first entry. I said I would randomly pick one of you and send a little gift and I intend to do just that :)

Just please bear with me as this week is hectic - meet the parents night, three classes writing tests, two sets of labs to mark, two sets of journals to mark, a new unit to start, a musical to help organize and a presentation to get ready for. Oh yes - I also teach four math and science classes each day! Whew! (I think it's time for sleep now...)

I promise I'll put your names in a hat this week and get one of my trustworthy students to choose someone... then I'm off to the post office!

Fatty fish

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:05:00 +0000

Since we're protesting against cable television (read: too cheap to pay for cable), we rely on podcasts, youtube, the library, and 'other' sources for our mindless entertainment. Recently, we found episodes of "Hell's Kitchen" on youtube, and we've been catching up on all three seasons. Each season begins with Gordon Ramsey ordering the contestants to make their signature dish. Of course, after tasting each dish, Ramsey proceeds to spit it out, swear profusely and call the contestant very rude names.

This got me thinking (not the spitting and swearing - the signature dish!). If I had to pick one dish that I might label as my signature dish, what would it be? Hmm...

There are dishes that I always seem to bring to potlucks - ribs, grain salads, pork tenderloins, strawberry-white-chocolate mouse cake - but those are just crowd-pleasers. I wouldn't exactly call them my signature dish.

Then it dawned on me. I make a pretty awesome fatty fish (except when doing a zillion things at once and not paying attention it becomes less than awesome). But for now, I'm going to call this my signature dish - I love it's simplicity and clean flavours. Besides it can be made in less than 30 minutes.

Please don't use frozen (or frozen and thawed) fish for this. Buy good quality salmon from a fish monger or farmer's market. If you have access to it, try to find wild-caught Alaskan salmon. For other fish choices, check out Seafood Watch to learn about which varieties of fish won't kill our oceans. Note that if you do decide to buy responsibly, you're going to have to shell out $28/lb or so. Just buy smaller portions and eat less meat the rest of the week to make up the cost :)

Asian-inspired Salmon (or trout or tuna or other fatty fish)

boneless fillets of fatty fish
soy sauce
maple syrup
grated fresh ginger
lots of fresh ground pepper, coarsely ground
a little salt

1. Find a shallow vessel that will hold all your fillets. I usually use a pie plate for 2-4 portions or a glass baking dish for up to 12 portions. Pour enough soy sauce to cover the bottom of the vessel by 0.5 cm and add some maple syrup. For a pie plate, I add about 2 tbsp, but adjust according to your own tastes.

2. Grate in a 2 cm-long knob of ginger (or more if you like) and sprinkle with pepper to taste.

3. Mix it all together with a fork and TASTE. Depending on your brand of soy sauce, you may need to add some salt or more maple syrup. Adjust the seasonings.

4. Place your fillets into the vessel and let them marinate in the goodness for as long as you can wait, flipping them over every once in a while. Sometimes I think ahead and do this part as soon as I get home from work so they marinate for 1 hr or so, but sometimes I just let them sit for 10 min if we're in a hurry to eat.

5. Preheat your oven to 425 F. Oil a metal baking tray and place the fillets gently on the tray, with at least 2 cm between them.

6. Bake until done. Yeah, that's right. It's now up to you to watch the fillets. When I'm making 2-4 fillets, I usually check them after 6 minutes, then I watch diligently. When I'm making 6 fillets, I check them after 10 minutes, then I watch diligently. Sometimes I take them out and poke them with a butter knife to see if they're about to start flaking.

DO NOT OVERCOOK. Know that after you take them out, they will keep on baking with the residual heat left in the fish and on the baking tray.

7. Serve with Garlic Scallion Noodles (inspired by Jaden) and steamed baby bok choy like in the photo above, or choose your own favourite sides.

First entry on foodtv!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:19:00 +0000

Just wanted to invite you to check out my first entry on the Food Network Canada blog. Please write some comments there so I don't feel lonely!

Hey! I have an idea! If you add a comment (and I'm able to find your contact info), I'll enter you into a draw for something really special. So, get commenting and you might find a surprise in your mailbox sometime next week :) [ps. I love you guys!]

Tanakaya

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000

Each time we travel home, we try to schedule in as many visits with family and friends as possible. Of course, this means that some people get left out (like my friend Jen in Toronto, who we only get to see every couple years). Driving between London and Ottawa, with an occasional stop in Toronto or Kingston to have a meal with a friend is pretty tiring when you're (supposedly) on vacation. I hate trying to schedule in friends like they are business appointments.

Having said all that, when we do get to visit with a handful of friends, the visits are always a great time to catch up and laugh. Of course, they most often center around food.

When Mel and Mark invited us out to Tanakaya, a small Japanese place in the Covent Garden Market in London, we agreed immediately. We ordered an assortment of dishes - gyoza, bbq eel sushi, edamame, veg tempura, a bento box each and some matcha ice cream to finish it off.

I was impressed with the sushi and many items in the bento box (especially the pickled beet and the dressing on the salad), but my salmon was a bit dry. For my tastes, it was slathered with too much sauce and I couldn't taste the flavour of the fish.

I know, I know - in a sushi place, if I wanted to taste the flavour of fish, I should have gotten something raw. But still, you would think that out of all the places I've had sub-par seafood, a sushi joint should not be one of them. Next time we're in town, I'd like to visit again, try something raw and get back to you - hopefully it was just an off night for salmon because the rest of the meal was delicious. Thanks to Mel and Mark for suggesting Tanakaya and for the wonderful company.

King of Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:03:00 +0000

Before we left on vacation (like, a month ago!), Wendy and Mike invited us over for the last supper. Ah, the idea is, you can spend the week getting rid of all the food in your fridge and not have to worry about what you're going to eat the day before your trip because you have wonderful friends who will provide an awesome meal. Got that?

Which leads me to my next point - Mike is the King of Cheesecake. Since we first met them, I think we have tasted about seven different cheesecakes made by the King, one of which is described here (where you can see that Mike is also the King of Pizza).

The last supper cheesecake was a very light raspberry and had a texture that was unlike most cheesecakes - very smooth and not at all grainy. In the photo below you can see a little indent that an errant raspberry made. That's right, the cheesecake was so light that the weight of a single raspberry marred the surface. Absolutely delicious in flavour but what did it for me personally, were the fantastic texture and lightness.

Roasted garden vegetables and grilled skewers rounded out the last supper. Mucho thanks to Wendy and Mike for making travel easier.

Need a drink

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:17:00 +0000

After my first week back to work (which is why we are low on the blog posts yet again), I definitely needed a drink. So I made one (see ingredients below). Any guesses?

If you guessed "strawberry-mango-orange margarita", you win! Edit: Doug and Ula informed me that margaritas have lime and tequilla - oops! Maybe this is a daiquiri ?

Strawberry-Mango-Orange ~~Margarita~~ Daiquiri

two halves of frozen mango
two handfuls of frozen strawberries
two shots of orange juice
two shots of rum (um, I may have used more...)
two teaspoons of Demerara sugar (optional)

Mix everything together in a powerful blender until smooth. Wet the rims of the glasses with orange jucie and dip into the sugar. Pour carefully so as to not disturb the sugar. Cheers!

Vacation is over

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:46:00 +0000

Living 3000km away from family sucks. But, as a bonus, when I do get to visit - like for the last two weeks which is why there are no blog posts - I get food-spoiled. That's right, my family, Ian's family and even random families food-spoil me. In addition to obtaining wicked tans, we also increased our waist sizes considerably. Oh well. That's what family visits are for, right? (um, don't answer that)

We traveled with two absolutely adorable girls and helped deliver them to visit with their Grandparents. As a thank you, their Grandma spoiled us with a basket of treats, cute napkin holders, some sparkly wine and a cookbook. The baklava, peanut butter cookies and homemade "turtles" quickly disappeared - in fact, we had devoured half the treats before I remembered to take a photo! Yum, yum. Thank you for the thank you treats, Grandma!

Family dinners with my Mom and Dad consisted of childhood favourites: mainly meat-n-potatoes with fresh veg on the side. Here are the only two pics I remembered to take.

Roasted pork, mashed potatoes and green beans. My Mom is the Queen of falling-apart roast pork.

Meatloaf, roasted potatoes and tomato salad.

Ian's family spoiled us with treats - chocolate, ice cream, junk food, Dairy Queen dilly bars, late-night bruschetta made by my brother-in-law (who is also known for the best-ever-in-life-roast-beef-made-at-home that I'm still trying to copy but am too cheap to buy a good cut).

I'm thankful that I was food-spoiled, but also a little sad that my waist has expanded. I've been going on mad bike rides and doing power yoga almost every day to make up for it. It's slowly working :) Of course, I didn't even consider limiting my food intake, because, well, that would be stupid.

I'm not a gardener (and raspberry bread with lemon curd)

noreply@blogger.com (Anna) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:06:00 +0000

I ~~grow~~ watch the following grow in my backyard: weeds, some cooking herbs, four strawberry plants and a bunch of raspberries. Yup, I'm lazy. Luckily, we have just the right amount of raspberry bushes - not enough to have to do any work, but plenty so we get a bowl-ful of plump berries every few days.

Earlier this week I had a craving for easy raspberry bread. So I began to search out and/or formulate a recipe. Usually I begin with skimming through my personal recipe collection (organized by my beautiful friend Taryn, and added to by my "aunt" Donna) to see if I can find any similar recipes.

Next, I move onto checking the handful of cookbooks I own. I'm pretty selective in the cookbooks I buy, although, I usually borrow 3 (or 7) from the library each week (yeah, other people read Harry Potter, I read cookbooks. Um, I read Harry Potter too). Nothing found in the cookbooks.

Next comes the web search, starting with searching through my favourite blogs, then favourite chef sites, then foodtv.ca, then foodtv.com (they have different licensing agreements, and thus, different recipes).

Finally, after I have found my favourite few recipes, I modify and/or consolidate them into the one I will try. After tasting the result for the first time, I write down my impressions and any changes I would make the next time. And so the process repeats.

Healthy Raspberry Bread

2 cups spelt flour (or use whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp prune puree + 1 tbsp oil (or 3 tbsp oil, but I try to lower the fat content)
1/2 cup yogurt + 1/2 cup milk (or use 1 cup half and half, or use 3/4 cup yogurt + 1/4 cup milk)
2 cups raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Oil a regular loaf tin (or muffin tins).

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3. In a large bowl, stir sugar, egg, vanilla and prune+oil until combined. Stir in half of the flour mixture and all the yogurt+milk. Stir in the rest of the flour until just combined (add 1-2 tbsp more yogurt if dough is on the dry side - this depends on the flour you use)

4. Gently stir in the berries and spread into pan, evening out the top.

5. Bake for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

6. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack covered with a tea towel (to prevent ridges) and cool completely before slicing. Serve alone, or with a thin spread of butter or lemon curd.

Lemon Curd
(modified from Alton Brown's recipe)

1 lemon and 1/2 lime, zested and juiced (or, only use lemon - you should have 1/3 cup of juice from the citrus)
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar (next time, I'll use 3/4 cup only)
1 stick butter (1/4 of a 454 g block), cut into 1-2 cm thick slices

1. Prepare a bowl that will fit over a pot of boiling water. Simmer 1 inch of water in such a pot (you've just made yourself a double boiler).

2. In the bowl (not yet placed over the water), whisk together the citrus juice and zest, sugar and egg yolks until thoroughly combined.

3. Place the bowl over the simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and continue whisking for 7 or 8 minutes non-stop. If you stop, you run the risk of scrambling the eggs, although the double-boiling method helps to prevent this. You will know when you are done when the mixture turns a light yellow colour and coats the back of a spoon (nappe).

4. Take the bowl off the heat and whisk in one slice of butter at a time. Whisk until each slice is fully incorporated, then add the next slice. Continue this pattern until all or most (I left two knobs - see pic) of the butter is added, putting the bowl back over the hot water for a few minutes if the butter is taking too long to melt into the mixture.

5. Transfer to a clean bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd (to prevent a skin from forming). Refrigerate for up to 2 or even 3 weeks (this is surprisingly stable stuff!).

We spread it on the raspberry bread and had it for breakfast. Drool...