Kristina's Cold Beet Borsch (Saltibarsciai)

Kristina made this incredible Lithuanian dish for me yesterday. Another wonderful summer soup recipe. Saltibarsciai (roughly pronounced "salchi bars chay") means cold borsch. Traditionally it is served with hot boiled potatoes.

Kristina describes it as a combination of soup and salad. She serves it as an appetizer and welcoming cooler to guests.

The first beets of summer, cucumbers, dill and green onion are all ready in the garden now or available at farm stands or your local produce store.

Equipment tip: Paring knives

The skin of beets usually falls off pretty easily if you slide your fingers across it with a little help from your "bird's beak" paring knife. I just found out that those small curved knives that are so handy in the kitchen are called "bird's beak" knives. They are not very sharp but they are pretty handy for so many things, including testing beets and potatoes. Just poke the knife into the centre of the beet or potato or whatever, pull it out and if the vegetables slides off with no more than a shake, it is done. I use mine for peeling and paring and trimming fruit and vegetables.

After cooking I make sure to wash all my knives and put them back in the knife block. Actually, I probably do that several times during any cooking session. Those little paring knives have a way of disappearing so I make sure they are all back in place.

Equipment tip: Graters

Those box graters are the best for grating almost anything (cheese, carrots). I hate getting my food processer or blender and use the box grater whenever I can. They provide the right support and leverage but still give your arms a workout. I can't imagine Giada doing it, she is such a little bird, but real cooks do it. Make sure to wash your grater immediately after using because cheese and carrots turn to cement on them very quickly.

I also have one of those microplane things that look like a ruler and is fabulous for nutmeg, garlic and ginger right over a cup, bowl, or pot and easy to wash. Wash right away --- again, garlic and ginger have a way of turning into cement.

Cold Beet Borsch

Ingredients:
5 to 6 medium beets
1 litre buttermilk
1 tsp. salt
2 boiled eggs
2 small pickling cucumbers
1 bunch fresh dill
4-5 green onions

Instructions:
Cook the beets in advance to make sure they have time to cool.
Wash the beets (not too carefully as they are peeled later).
Trim the stem to about 1-2 inches long. Don't trim the root. Leaving the stem and root prevents bleeding and makes sure the beets retain their flavour and makes less mess.
Boil the beets. It can take up to 45 minutes depending on the size of the beets. Do not overcook the beets as they won't taste good. Stick them with your bird's beak paring knife and when they fall off the knife with a shake they are done.
Cool the beets, preferably in the frig for several hours.
Trim the root and stem and peel the beets.
Shred the beets on the large side of a box shredder into a large bowl.
Trim the end of the cukes but don't peel them, and shred them on the large side of the box shredder.
Chop the dill and onion very finely.
Peel and slice the eggs on an egg slicer.
Add the eggs, cukes and herbs to the bowl.
Add a liter of buttermilk to make a thick soup or soupy salad consistency.
Add the salt and stir well.
Put in the frig for 2 hours and serve ice cold.

Green Bean Soup with Ham and Summer Savory (Shaubel Zuhp)

This is my favourite soup and I always make it when the green beans from the garden are ready.

Regular green or yellow beans are best and you must have fresh summer savory. As I've mentioned before you need to plant this herb in the garden yourself as it is not readily available. Before it blooms, cut enough for the freezer.

The best type of potatoes for soup and salad are the waxy ones. I like the Island Ambers, Warbas and Norchips from Westham Island Herb Farm or you can sometimes find German potatoes in Richmond at a farm stand. Yukon Golds from a produce store are also good. At this time of year, be sure to take advantage of all the new potatoes available.

Regarding parsley, I use both stems and leaves --- the stems are not hard and they have a lot of flavour. I try to add parsley in the last few minutes of cooking anything so it still looks fresh and green.



Green Bean Soup with Summer Savory


Ingredients:
Ham hock with bone
16 cups cold water
5 large potatoes, or 8-10 small new potatoes
4 cups green yellow beans
1 bunch fresh summer savory
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped with stems
10 peppercorns

Instructions:
You can make the stock the day before or in the morning. Refrigerate the stock and ham if you are not making the soup right away.
Put the ham, summer savory and peppercorns (in a spice ball) into a large pot with the water.
Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 2 hours.
Remove the ham and put it on a board or platter.
Remove the summer savory stems and discard. Remove the spice ball.
When ready to make the soup, wash the potatoes (preferably new potatoes, the waxy type).
Cut into bite sized pieces but do not peel.
Add to the soup and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes while you prepare the beans.
Trim the beans and cut them into 1 inch pieces, and add beans to the soup and simmer about 15 minutes.
Cut the ham off the bone and discard bone, rind, and fat. Cut the ham into pieces and put back into the soup. I love the fat and rind so I sneak a few tidbits while cooking.
Add the fresh parsley, chopped with leaves and stems, and cooking.

Serve with brown bread and a bowl of sour cream on the side.

This soup does not freeze well because of the potatoes, so just eat it all week.

Raspberries --- Eat Something Black Everyday

I have been reading a lately about the benefits of black, purple, blue and dark red fruits and vegetables, especially berries, and the implications for health and well being. It makes sense --- our ancesters and the native Canadians maintained excellent health picking and eating wild and domestic berries and preserving them as well. So here's little motto I have adopted --- eat something black every day. For my purposes, I am including coffee as a black food.

But there are many other black options --- beets, blueberries, cranberries, eggplants, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, plums, prunes, cherries, red and black grapes, raisins, red cabbage, purple kale, purple potatoes, black beans, red beans, red wine and chocolate.

You have to eat the skins and seeds such as raspberry seeds, to get most of the benefits, so that rules out juice. Apparently dried fruits and frozen fruits are okay and red wine retains some benefits of the grape skins but I have not found any details about that. Instinctively, I know that I should eat as much freshly picked raw food as possible. When possible, I head out to Westham Island Herb Farm and buy berries picked the same day. So don't just buy the fruit and stick it in the frig --- get out a bowl and starting eating and then eat some at every meal.

Be careful eating chocolate --- it comes with sugar. If you are tired all the time, get all the chocolate and other sugar out of your diet and eat lots fruit and green salads (and I don't mean caesar salad).

I have written about the wonderful tastes of beets, red cabbage, and cranberries on this blog, so check the Labels (blog speak for index) for recipes.

Raspberries are in full season now, and they are so delicate that they have to be picked and eaten. My house rule is that the first one out in the garden in the morning gets to eat all the berries for breakfast. I don't see much point in picking them and putting in the frig. Usually that means me --- I keep rooster hours. There are also just enough strawberries still bearing and the blueberries are starting too. House guests and students are offered first dibs but they have to get out early.

Heaven is a mug of strong black cofffee, freshly ground overroasted beans of course, and warm berries plucked and eaten on the spot. I check out the peas and eat those too, pod and all if they are not too fat yet.

If you have a sunny spot about 3 feet in diameter in your garden, plant a summer-bearing variety. You don't need any special conditions other than sun. Mine are some kind of heritage plant, I wish I knew what because they are absolutely delicious --- huge, sweet, juicy flavourful, and prolific. You can read pages and pages about growing them, but as usual I do the least you can. You will need to prune the canes at the right time and you will need to stake them. You will also need to watch for suckers and pull them out.

There are two types of canes on the plant --- ones with flowers and fruit and ones without. In late summer or fall, remove the ones that had flowers and fruit, i.e. cut them off at the ground. Don’t top the ones without flowers during the summer --- they will have fruit the next year. In January to March, remove damaged canes leaving all the healthy canes. Prune the whole thicket to fit the space allotted and shorten the canes to 6 feet. I use stakes from Lee Valley but any wooden or bamboo sticks that you can jam into the ground will do. You need string or ties to tie the canes to the stakes. You will need gardening gloves and secateurs for pruning (friendly neighbourhood Home Hardware).

Red Cabbage with Bacon and Apple

This recipe is adapted from Laura Calder's recipe in French Cooking at Home. There are many red cabbage recipes, but this one is great. I always thought of it as a German dish, but apparently the French eat it too.

You need to allow about an hour to make and cook it, and it does taste better the next day.

I used the wonderful bacon I get from a farm in Delta (I buy it at Westham Island Herb Farm).

If you don't have homemade beef stock, don't bother with canned. If you don't have red wine vinegar, use any vinegar.

Red Cabbage with Bacon and Apple

Ingredients:
1/2 small red cabbage, sliced very finely
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 oz. bacon, sliced and cut into small pieces
1/4 of a large red onion, sliced finely
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup beef stock
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bay leaf
Sea or kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tart apples, diced with peel.

Instructions:
Slice the cabbage and onion very finely, and cut any large pieces into fine shreds.
Heat a saute pan on medium heat.
When hot, add the oil, bacon, and onion.
Saute about 10 minutes, stirring often.
Add the cabbage, vinegar, wine, stock, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
Bring to a simmer and cover halfway, and cook about 45 minutes. You want the cabbage to be very well cooked and the liquid to cook away.
Meanwhile, in another pan, melt the butter and add sugar. Saute the apples about 10 minutes.
Add to the cabbage.
Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Kale with Bacon and Garlic

Kale is just starting to appear in the garden. I have two types --- green and purple.


Kale is so delicious --- I have converted many people to loving kale and sent them home with a bag of fresh kale. It has a mild nutty flavour and does not get slimy like spinach does when cooked.


Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. According to Dr. Beliveau (the highly regarded Canadian scientist who writes about using foods to prevent and cure cancer), the one most important thing you can do to prevent or cure cancer is to eat plenty of cruciferous vegetables.


Kale will continue to produce into late winter at least. It can be added to salads, soups, and stews. It is so easy to grow, so be sure to buy transplants in spring and plant some. Four plants are adequate for an average family.


My favourite way to cook kale as a vegetable is with oil and garlic and bacon. This method works well with other greens such as Swiss chard and spinach. Another variation is to substitute nuts for the bacon. Oil and garlic alone are also just wonderful.


I have some wonderful bacon from a farm in Delta. You can buy it at the Westham Island Herb Farm (a source of many wonderful things).


Equipment tip: Tongs. I have metal ones and wooden ones and use them every day for sauteing and turning things in the oven or moving things from pan to plate. It's probably best not to use silicone or plastic (especially after reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck). My latest metal ones have a lock on the end --- very handy.


Kale with Bacon and Garlic
Ingredients:
Large colander full of kale
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 oz. bacon, sliced, and cut into lardons
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped


Instructions:
Cut a large colander full of kale just before making dinner.
Bring it into the house, rinse thoroughly, drain, but don't dry --- you want moisture on the kale. As the season goes on, you may have to wash the kale more and more carefully as tiny bugs or eggs attach themselves..
With a pair of scissors, cut the larger stems out or just tear the leafy parts off the stems.
Tear the very large pieces of kale into smaller pieces.
Heat a saute or frying pan on medium heat.
When the pan is hot, add the oil.
Brown the bacon and keep tossing it around.
Add the garlic and be careful not to burn it.
Pile all the kale into the pan, pressing it down as best you can to keep it all in the pan. It will tower high above the edge of the pan.
Using large tongs, constantly turn the kale over, bringing the bottom pieces to the top. Keep putting any pieces that fall out back into the pan.
After about 2 or 3 minutes, the kale will be cooked down but still bright green. You have almost no lee way here --- it goes from undercooked to overcooked very quickly.
Turn off the heat, and remove the kale from the pan to a serving bowl. Pour any remaining oil, bacon, and garlic over the kale and serve.


Best fresh but pretty good as leftovers too.

Jambalaya with Sausage and Prawns

This recipe is adapted from Delia's book. I've made it dozens of times and it often requested by students and houseguests. It is a "fancy" meal using what you have on hand and it's very easy to make.


You don't even have to remember to take the sausage and prawns out of the freezer in the morning. You only use one pan and leftovers are great too.


Jalapeno peppers are the small green peppers (1-3 inches long) you can buy in most produce stores. They are not very hot, but you still have to be careful after you handle them not to touch your face especially your eyes (even after you wash your hands) for at least a few hours. The heat varies with each individual pepper. Generally, the larger the pepper, the sweeter (i.e. milder). Also, the pith and seeds carry more heat so, if you want less heat, cut them out. You can use a small dash of hot chili sauce if you don't have jalapeno peppers on hand.


The key to this dish is using stock made from the prawn shells. I put a communal dish for the shells on the dining room table and then use them to make stock for the freezer. Next time I make jambalaya I save time not having to make the stock.


Prawns and shrimp are best cooked unpeeled to preserve the flavour and juiciness. At the dinner table, it is permissible to remove the shell with your fingers or with a fork and knife. To peel a shrimp, pull off the legs on the underside with either your fingers or your fork and knife then pull off the shell, leaving the tail on. You can cook prawns with heads on too, and they can be eaten by those who like them or you can pull or cut them off.


Be careful not to vary the rice to liquid ratio and not to overcook this dish. You don't want the vegetables and rice to be mushy.


If you have lots of kale or spinach, you can use some of it up in this dish. Wash kale carefully, cut out the spines with a scissor, and tear into 2-inch pieces.


Equipment tip: Graters


For grating small items very finely (e.g. garlic, ginger, nutmeg), I use one of those micro-plane graters. They are just a one-sided grater with very fine holes. Mine is long like a ruler which is very handy for grating things over a pan or bowl.


Jambalaya


Ingredients:
3 hot Italian sausages, sliced in 1-inch pieces
extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow or white onion, coarsely chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic, grated
2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
4 fresh tomatoes, chopped (half can of diced tomatoes is okay in a pinch)
6 oz. basmati rice
12 oz. prawn stock
1-2 bay leaves
2 yellow sweet peppers, coarsely chopped
Kale or spinach (optional)
12-20 large tiger prawns, unpeeled
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped


Instructions:
If the prawns are frozen, put run them under cool water to separate them and then lay them out on a plate or baking dish not touching each other to thaw for an hour or so. The sausages can be sliced frozen, in fact it is easier when they are frozen.
If you don't have prawn stock in the freezer, make the stock first as follows: cook the unpeeled prawns in 2 cups of water for 3 minutes or until they are pink. Save the water --- this is your stock. The shells give the stock its flavour. Set the prawns and the stock aside in two separate bowls.
Heat a large deep saute pan on medium heat.
When the pan is hot (touch the edge), add the oil.
Brown the sausage pieces and set them aside in a bowl.
Add more oil and the onion and brown for 3 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
Grate the garlic directly into the pan, stirring to prevent burning.
Add the jalapeno peppers and cook 2 more minutes, stirring.
Add the sweet peppers, tomatoes, and kale or spinach.
Return the sausage to the pan.
Make a hole in the middle of the pan and add the rice.
Add 12 ounces of prawn stock (in a pinch, use juice from canned tomatoes or chicken stock to make up the required liquid).
Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer with lid on the pan 10 minutes.
If the prawns were not cooked at the beginning to make the stock, arrange a layer of prawns to the top of the rice and simmer with the lid on until the prawns are pink on both sides --- about 5 minutes.
If the prawns were cooked at the beginning to make the stock, simmer 15 minutes and add the prawns in a single layer just before serving and heat for 2 minutes.
Check to ensure the rice is cooked and turn off the heat.
Put the entire pan on the table on a heavy board or transfer to a casserole dish.
Garnish with parsley.


Don't forget to save the shells. After dinner, simmer the shells in a pot of water for 20 minutes. Discard the shells. Freeze in medium-sized glass jars, making sure you don't fill them full. Be sure to label them with "prawn" and the date.

Cucumber Salad with Dill

This salad is fabulous in summer with fresh dill and fresh crisp pickling cucumbers.

In winter, an English cucumber or imported ones will do, but the flavour does not compare. If using an English cucumber, wash, peel, remove seeds, and slice very thin. Cucumbers skins can be bitter and the bitterness easily spreads to the flesh, so keep rinsing your knife and the cucumber as you peel, trim, or cut them.

The best way to eat cukes from the garden in summer time, is freshly picked when they are no more than 6 inches long. Rinse the cucumbers, then slice lengthwise and arrange on a plate. Do not peel. Salt each slice heavily and let stand for 15 minutes.

Proportions this recipe can be varied substantially and if you don't have all the ingredients on hand, you can leave out the optional ones without affecting the salad.

Equipment tip: Reamers

Regarding lemons and other citrus fruit, the quickest easiest method of getting juice is to use one of those wooden reamers. The physics of this tool, make squeezing very easy. If you are picky about the seeds, you can squeeze into a glass measuring cup and then pour the juice through a small tea strainer or seive.

Cucumber Salad with Dill

Ingredients:
10 5-inch pickling cucumbers
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup white vinegar
2 Tbsp. white sugar
2 tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
2-4 Tbsp. fresh parsley, finely chopped
juice of 1 large lemon (optional)
1/2 small white onion, finely sliced or 4 green onions, finely chopped (optional)
1 garlic clove, grated (optional)
1 cup sour cream (optional)

Instructions:
Wash and trim the ends off the cucumbers.
Slice in 1/8 inch slices. Do not peel if using pickling cucumbers.
Add the other ingredients and toss.
Taste and adjust seasoning.

Keeps well in the frig and tastes better the longer it sits.

Fiona's Couscous, Asparagus and Pesto Salad

I had this at Fiona's barbecue and had to try it. With only the vaguest recipe, I decided to try it out and it was really good. I usually find couscous bland but with this combination it's anything but. It's also a good way to make sure there is no leftover steamed asparagus being overlooked in the frig. Basil is also very healthy and you can't eat too much of it.

This salad should be prepared one day ahead --- it needs time for the flavours to blend.

Couscous, Roasted Asparagus and Pesto Salad

Ingredients:
1 large bunch asparagus
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 cup wholewheat couscous
1 cup boiling water
juice of one lemon

Instructions:
Break off the tough ends off the asparagus and discard (they will break at the right place if you hold both ends and snap).
Put them on a baking sheet lined with foil.
Toss with oil and salt and pepper.
Spread out in one layer.
Roast at 450 degrees F. for about 5 minutes or until tender.
Remove from oven, let cool enough to handle, and chop into 1 inch pieces.
While the asparagus is roasting, prepare the pesto (see recipe below).
While the asparagus is cooling, prepare the couscous.
Put the couscous in a large bowl. Add the boiling water. Cover and let stand one minute.
Add the pesto, chopped asparagus and lemon juice to the couscous and stir well.

Pesto
Ingredients:

2 cups (packed) fresh basil
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan on low heat, stirring frequently until they are golden brown.
Blend (pulse) the basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper in a food processor. (A blender will not work Giada.)
Run the processer and slowly add the oil through the built-in funnel until the pesto is smooth and thick.
Transfer to a small bowl and add the cheese.
Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Notes for pesto: Lasts two days in the frig.
To use on pasta, add pasta liquid to the drained pasta to encourage the pesto to stick.