Posts tagged ‘growing food’
Zucchini and tomato strata
Egg stratas are a favourite food of mine. They’re healthy and nourishing and one of those foods that can be made with an endless variations of ingredients and flavours. This weekend it’s ripe tomatoes and small organic zucchini along with fresh herbs from my patio garden. The dill tastes beautiful in this dish with the tomatoes and zucchini. If you make stratas, I’d love to hear about new ideas for flavour combinations.
The recipe below serves two to four people and can easily double or triple if you’ve got a larger group.
Zucchini and tomato strata
4 slices of bread
3 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup onion, finely minced
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped (or 1 teaspooon dried dill)
1/8 teaspoon paprika
Fresh ground pepper
1 tomato, diced
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup fresh chives, finely minced
Break bread up into small pieces and spread in a greased 9″ round baking pan. Whisk together eggs and milk and add onion, mustard and spices. Pour over bread. Scatter tomatoes and zucchini over top of bread and egg mixture and press down lightly. Top with cheese and bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes until egg is set. Sprinkle fresh chives over top.
Serve with muffins and fresh fruit for breakfast or with salad for lunch or dinner.
Tomato and tarragon soup
Tarragon is a new ingredient in my kitchen. It’s a leafy green herb that reminds me of the licorice-like taste of fennel combined with the strong, verdant aroma of fresh basil. After tasting it in this creamy tomato soup I will definitely search it out for the kitchen garden we’re planning for our new patio.
This recipe is adapted from Rebar Cookbook. It’s easy to make and relatively quick – everyone at our dinner table loved it. If you don’t have tarragon I’d recommend fresh basil or chives as a substitute.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
1/2 cup tarragon, sliced
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cans (28 oz) whole tomatoes with juice
1 cup whipping cream
Saute onion in oil for about five minutes until onions soften. Stir in salt, garlic and chile flakes and saute for another five minutes. Stir tomatoes and half of the tarragon into onion mixture. Break up tomatoes, add stock and simmer for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Remove bay leaves, blend soup in batches and return to pot. Stir in cream and remaining tarragon and serve.
New waffle iron!
This is a picture of today’s delicious breakfast made with my brand new waffle iron, a holiday gift from my parents. The day began with a beautiful walk outside with the dog this morning. Afterwards, I spent two minutes stirring up batter (from a mix), made fruit salad with raspberries and peaches I’d tucked away in our freezer when they were in season, and tried out this latest addition to my kitchen. Easy, quick and tasty, and a perfect choice of breakfast to go along with movie watching on our last day of holidays.
Tomato Basil Sauce (taste of summer)
This summer I spent a whole day chopping up a 25lb box of tomatoes and cooking them into a tomato basil sauce that could be stored away for winter. Well, winter is here. No doubt about that. It’s snowy and cold here in Calgary, and it was frosty even in Vancouver, where we spent the Christmas week.
So, freshly home from our trip and with not much food in the fridge, it was time to bring out a jar of that heavenly sauce for a simple pasta meal. I added a small tin of tomato paste to it along with about 2 cups of fresh spinach, some finely chopped almonds, grated asiago and hot chili flakes and served it over brown rice pasta for a delicious, simple supper that tasted just like summer. Vegetarian and gluten free, of course.
The recipe for the sauce is below. I highly recommend devoting a day next summer to finding a big box of tomatoes and making it. It was a beautiful way to spend a day, and the experience of pulling out a jar of your own tomato sauce in winter time is about a million times better than opening up a jar of Prego. (more…)
Sunchoke soup
It’s soup season again, always a reassuring time of year. Today I made sunchoke soup with some carrots and potatoes, all grown within our 100 mile range. It was a very simple thing to do.
Peel 1 cup sunchokes and coarsely chop. Peel 2 cups potatoes and coarsely chop. Add to a pot of boiling water along with 2 cups coarsely chopped carrots. Let the water boil down as everything softens and add in 1/2 cup finely diced onion for the final 10 minutes of cooking. Drain off some of the cooking water into a measuring cup and then puree the vegetable mixture in batches, adding in a bit of the reserved cooking water to get the texture and thickness you like. Add it all back into the pot, season with salt and pepper, heat through and serve with some cheese and crackers.
A bottle of pinot noir is also a tasty addition if you have it handy.
