domicile

Pavlova: Easier than Pie!

pavlova
Originally uploaded by emira

A warning to friend and some faithful readers I know: there is no way to make this dessert vegan. Yes, you can replace the whipped cream with soy cream/soy ice cream/ricedream etc. but you can't disguise the whole egg whites = meringue thing. Not that I know of anyway. So sorry.

That out of the way, Pavlova is a decent gluten free dessert (I think) in that it's really just egg whites, sugar, vanilla and cornstarch or arrowroot powder (not sure about gluten in those so please correct me if I'm wrong).

So, for those who don't know what is Pavlova? It's a dessert made with a layer of meringue (which makes the base) then some whipped cream and fresh fruit. The recipe here is pretty much identical to the one I used. It's delicious and a great way to show of seasonal fruits. The one I made had golden kiwis (not exactly seasonal as they came from afar), local apricots and local blackberries. And, if I do say so myself: it was yummy.

The other great thing about pavlova is that it cooks in a cool oven (250F), which in the middle of summer heat is a great thing. Particularly if like us, you have a big old gas oven that heats your entire house. And really: it is easier than pie. Like many things made with egg whites, I find it has quite a mystique to it that makes it a very impressive dessert, but really all you need is a hand mixer (or stand mixer or whatever will whip your egg whites) and then once you separate your eggs you're through the only vaguely tricky step. It takes about 10 minutes to mix up the meringue then you've just got washing fruit, slicing it and whipping cream and ta da: impressive, beautiful dessert to impress your friends! My only regret with the one I made Friday was that I had planned to decorate it with rose petals as well. Since I forgot that step, I think I'll need to make another.

Fenced In

new garden cages
Originally uploaded by emira

This year I'm continuing with my square foot garden approach to veggie growing in the back yard. Because the dirt supply in each box is fairly limited and I do a fair bit of crop rotation each season using up a lot of nutrients, I had more dirt delivered at the beginning of the growing season so that I could cycle some of the old dirt out. I could have just added some compost but unfortunately, over the winter Mr. Pluto decided that the square dirt boxes were just too much like the perfect massive feline toilet for him to resist. Ugh. While he was great at staying out of them during the growing season last year, as they sat dormant he made them his home. Or rather: his bathroom. So, this left me with the need to dig out all of the dirt and replace it.

And, of course, old habits die hard so he began to inch his way back to the newly replenished boxes. It was at that point (and all this was way back in May now -- I've been a wee bit busy around here to keep up) that Martin made me some "walls" for each box. we made them out of scrap lumber and some chickenwire, which I cut to size. Each wall is removable so that I can get in and weed/turnover dirt/harvest, but they're enough of a barrier to keep out nosy cats. They're quite perfect really, though I'm almost positive I see Pluto staring at them with disdain from the deck above.

Rather Busy Actually

feline sunbathing
Originally uploaded by emira

There's not too much domestic going on around here these days, though there's plenty going on. Mostly, it's all about final edits for the book I'm coauthoring. We've got a deadline tomorrow and a final draft deadline mid August. I'm enjoying the editing process immensely, though I so wish I had time to really sink into it rather than cramming it in and around a full work week and life in general.

Other than editing there has been a lot of flamenco practicing, though I've elected to drop one choreography for a performance next week so I can focus on the other one. Too much stuff in my brain right now to also try to remember two choreographies and wrap my head around two entirely different time signatures. Flamenco is also something I'd positively love to really drink in for a while. Without interruption. Lately, my day dreams are of a little apartment somewhere in Seville or Jerez where I can divide my time between flamenco, writing and red wine. Sigh.

What else? Ah yes, we love our new deck. All of us. We had our first official al fresco meal Sunday night with Miss P. It rocked. So did our second meal Monday which was shared with my mom and grandma who came for the day. And since then, every breakfast and dinner that I've actually had the time to eat, has been enjoyed on our deck. Watching the neighbourhood folks walk by and talking to the neighbours on their deck next door. We have plans for our first deck cocktail night tomorrow. I can't wait.

Did I mention that in addition to a lovely table and chairs arrangement our deck has a soft cushy lounge? It's divine. Somehow, in the midst of all this, I've managed to squeeze two little cat naps out there in the evenings this week. With Pluto -- making it the purest kind of cat nap. I'm not sure what we did prior to this new deck. Though, I'm still in denial about the whole "treating and staining" business. That can wait for the book to be done.

Other People's Food

Some of my favourite food ladies have particularly excellent recipes featured right now. If, like me, you're finding the bounty of farmer's market goodies and the longer light of evenings inspiring activities in the kitchen, do take note of these delights:

• Heidi Swanson's Grilled Veggie Kebabs with Muhammara recipe is up on her site. I've made this a few times recently -- the recipe is in her cookbook and perhaps will convince you to buy a copy if you haven't already -- and it is an elegant, but easy twist on the veggie kebab. The muhmmara is a tangy paste/sauce made with roasted peppers and walnuts. The kebabs include lemon wedges, which when grilled add a wonderful depth of flavour without any extra work (just spear some lemon wedges on with the rest of your veggies). I've been adding yellow peppers to my kebabs, which I've quite enjoyed.
• Clotilde says she has been living on this Red Quinoa, Smoked Tofu and Pinenut Salad as she finishes up her second book (anyone have a review of her first book? I haven't picked it up yet). As summer brings the deadline for my own first book, I think this salad could indeed be a very delicious and simple meal to help get me through. And, I happen to have some red quinoa in my cupboard.
• Molly has a simple, but mouthwatering idea for the morrels that are making their way to the farmer's market. I might add some sauteed garlic scapes to this, if I was getting really fancy, but it sounds fantastic as is.

For my own part, tonight we're having a bread salad, a good simple meal for hot evenings. I tie my bread salad together with a simple but fantastic recipe for a basil vinaigrette that comes from the Rebar Cookbook. It's a sweet full flavoured dressing packed with fresh basil and accented with red wine vinegar and honey. With some dressing made you can put pretty much anything into the bread salad you like. Tonight I started with some chewy olive bread cut into large chunks and slightly stale. Then I added halved local cherry tomatoes, a ripe avocado cut into chunks, some blanched asparagus cut into 1" lengths  and small bocconcini's cut into quarters. I'll toss it all together with some chive flowers from the garden and a healthy crack of fresh pepper. You could also add peppers (roasted or fresh), artichokes, steamed new potatoes, blanched green beans, olives, capers, sliced fennel, red onion and all kinds of numminess to this. You can also leave out the cheese, I actually won't be eating that but will be passing it all to Martin's plate.

Basil Dressing
I roughly half the original recipe to make enough for the two of us for a dinner sized salad

1 clove of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 scant tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey (I'm using a local chestnut honey right now that has a very deep, rich flavour)
1/8 cup of red wine vinegar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
20g (just under 1 oz) fresh basil washed and torn
1/4 tsp sea salt
fresh pepper
1/2 cup fruity olive oil

I put all the ingredients, save the oil, in a jar and mix it with a hand blender, then pour in the olive oil until you have a thick creamy dressing. Ok, my mouth is watering now, time to toss and eat.

A Tale of Two Weekends

We had our Canada Day long weekend this past weekend and contrary to all weather predictions that forecast rain, it was a gloriously clear and warm weekend. I'm running pretty close to empty these days, trying to balance a busy work schedule, working with Lauren on a near final round of book edits, rehersing a choreography that is kicking my but for an upcoming flamenco show,and dealing with some fairly draining personal stuff that is occupying both Martin and my minds lately. In light of all that, I'm frankly awed that Martin (whose life is no less full these days) had it in him to build a deck this weekend. Me, I made cupcakes. And I didn't even do that by myself.

I made the cupcakes with Melanie, while Martin and Mark worked on framing the deck Sunday afternoon. The cupcakes, which were delicious by the way, were for a fireworks watching party at their place later that evening. Martin and Mark managed to get the deck well framed in that afternoon, and Melanie and iced cupcakes over a wonderful cup of tea. Today Martin was up and ready to finish off the joists while I struggled out of bed after having had a particularly awful sleep. By the time I made it to the kitchen with my cup of coffee, he was nearly ready to head back to Rona to pick up the deck surface planks. Over the course of today, he worked on the deck, managing to finish off the surfacing in time for us to eat a kind of picnic dinner out there, while I puttered about baking bread, tying up my tomato and pea plants, watering the garden and making some soup. Now it's near dusk and he's still out there cleaning up and sorting the remaining lumber so he can start on the railings tomorrow.

This is the first big reno task we've undertaken that I've been so very absent for. It feels very strange to not be out there with my hair full of sawdust and an aching back, though I'm so grateful to have had this weekend to take it easy. I know I'm only delaying my own part as I'll likely take on treating and painting the deck, but as I sit looking at it out the kitchen window I'm so happy to have been able to sit this one out so far.

A pissaladière of sorts

  pissaladière out of the oven 
  Originally uploaded by emira

I rarely cook without some kind of a recipe. Often it will be a recipe I made a few times three or five years ago and I'll just run off memory. Othertimes I'll flip back the recipe many times as I cook for guidance, though I should say that with the exception of baking, I almost never measure and I almost always substitute a good quarter of the ingredients. Still, it is rare that I don't have a recipe book or tattered piece of paper somewhere nearby for inspiration as I cook. Last night's dinner was different.

The inspiration for dinner was the boxes of vine ripened tomatoes on sale $2 for 2 boxes at my local green grocer. I'm a fussy gal when it comes to tomatoes. Really, I'll admit, I only enjoy them during tomato season proper, preferably when they come from my own tomato plants ripened in the sun. That said, I'm a wholehearted fan of the tomato itself. So what is one to do with $2 worth of cheap, decent but not quite fabulous tomatoes? Oven roast them. And so I did. I oven roasted about 2 dozen small nearly overripe tomatoes with a brush of olive oil, some ground sea salt and fresh pepper in a 250 degree oven for roughly four hours. Or so.

Now I needed a plan for those savoury sweet little gems. The thyme in my garden right now has finally established itself as healthy large plants and I have a few to choose from. We haven't quite hit the hot days of summer here in Vancouver (opting instead for the "oh look, it's raining again days) and so using a little fresh thyme seemed like a good flavour to pair with the tomatoes. Not quite the summer freshness of basil but not the winter heartiness of rosemary. From there the flavours of thyme and tomato had me thinking of pissaladière, the sourthern french cousin of pizza. I didn't have time to make a pizza dough or a tart shell with other errands and things yesterday, so instead I took out a sheet of puff pastry (I nearly always keep on in the freezer, as they really are handy as heck) to thaw.

Later that evening I began to assemble my own version of a pissaladière. Now traditionally a pissaladière should have anchovies in it, but as a vegetarian I'm not an anchovie gal, and so I swapped them for capers. I carmelized two small onions in olive oil, salt and pepper, stirring in fresh thyme and a generous drop of red wine vinegar at the end.I assembled things and thought I needed a bit more variety, so sauteed some sliced portobellos and crumbled a bit of goats cheese on top. The result? A relativley low fuss but, if I may say so myself, really darn tasty dinner. Served with some olives and a fresh green salad of arugula and mustard greens it was delightful. Oh, the Dry Reisling helped with the delightful part.

I'm as hopeless at writing recipes as I am at following them, so here's my rough directions. If you're a fussy sort of cook who needs a lot of exactness this may not be for you.

Early Summer Pissaladière
(Vegan Option Included)

* One sheet of puff pastry (the kind I get, is already in a sheet, so no rolling out, and it is vegan made with vegetable shortening, traditionally puff pastry is made with lard, so be careful if that's not your thing)
* 6 tomatoes oven roasted (12 tomato halves)
* 2 small onions
* 2 portobello mushrooms
* some goat's cheese (asiago, bocconcini, provolone or feta would all work well here as well, equally you could do without)
* about 4 stems of cut fresh thyme
* 1 genorous tbsp of capers
* salt & pepper

If you haven't already oven roasted your tomatoes you'll want to start about 5 hours ahead of when you want to eat. I typically oven roast a bunch of these at once and keep them in the fridge to use over the week. Simply cut the tomatoes in half, place on parchmennt lined baking sheets, brush or drizzle with olive oil and grind some sea salt (or sprinkle a bit of salt) and fresh pepper over top. Place in a 250 degree oven for about four hours. They're juicier than sundried tomatoes, sweeter and a great way to get an intense tomato taste when tomatoes aren't at the their best.

Ok, now you've got your tomatoes. Turn your oven to 400 to preheat and it's time to carmelize your onions. Now carmelize might be a bit of an exageration, we're really just heavily sauteeing the onions until they're very soft and have taken on a sweeter taste. You can keep going and get a really sweet and sticky onion, but that's not necessary here. Coat a heavy pan with olive oil and add the two sliced onions. They'll cook down to less than half what you see now, so you'll want a lot of them. Add a pinch of sea salt and cook over medium heat stirring often so they don't burn or brown unevenly. Saute them until they are very soft and have released all their sharp "onion-y-ness." At this point I typically cheat a bit and add about 2 tsps of unrefined sugar to sweeten the onions cooking and stirring the sugar in. Now add a generous drop of red wine vinegar (you could also use balsamic but I wanted the thyme to be the primary flavour, not balsamic) and keep stirring until that cooks off. Now tear your thyme leaves from the stem and stir them into the onions, turn off the heat.

At this point I started assembling the pissaladière. Either roll out or unfold your prerolled pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Mine was a bit too big for my baking sheet so I turned it up at the edges. Spread the onions on the base and add your tomatoes spacing them evenly across the top.

With my onion pan empty, but not cleaned I now sauteed my sliced portobellos in the seasoned pan. I sauteed them to the point that they had started to release their juices and soften but weren't total mush as they still need to cook for a bit and I wanted them to retain some structure without leaking too much mushroom juice onto the pastry. Add them to the pissaladière, spreading them evenly. Now rinse your capers and add them to the top as well. I probably used more than 1 tbsp, but Martin really loves capers.

Now, if you wish you can crumble some cheese on the top. I used some left over goat's cheese that was in the fridge, but as I say many other cheeses would work, as would omitting this step entirely (a traditional pissaladière does not have cheese). Grind a bit more pepper over the top and put in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes until the edges of the pastry are puffed and brown.

Served with a fresh green salad this fed two of us with about a 1/4 left over. It could easily be stretched to feed more folks if you had more side dishes -- some grilled asparagus, an olive tapenade or small bowls of garlic scape soup would all be nice accompaniments.

You could also change the ingredients to suit your taste or current fridge stock. For example, grilled asparagus would be great on there in place of the mushrooms. You could add a base of a fresh herb paste -- a sorrel pesto, arugula pesto or italian parsley pesto would be great. Olives instead of capers would be good. Grilled zucchini slices or roasted eggplant would also be wonderful on this. You could also serve it topped with a generous amount of fresh herbs: italian parsley, chive flowers or later in summer fresh basil would all be fantastic.