» The sisters

After 45 min of sitting in front of the computer, editing photos for a totally unrelated project, it became clear that I was just procrastinating and I had no clue how to make a lasagna. This realization came as a bit of a shock to me. I have most certainly been involved in the making of these baked delights before, it seemed like a no brainer. But the truth of the matter is that I have never made a lasagne on my own.

While in the produce department of the grocery over the weekend, I found myself staring at the brussels sprouts and thinking of the lady down the aisle dishing up tiny samples of lasagna. In that moment I knew that I was going to have to make a brussles sprout lasagna. After all, I had made a pact with myself to use more brussels sprouts this season.

I wanted this dish to pull inspiration from some of the lovely winter dishes that have made me fall in love with brussels sprouts. I have sliced the sprouts thinly, mixed a little meyer lemon into the ricotta and topped the whole dish with a creamy béchamel sauce.

With spring just around the corner, and the evening becoming longer and brighter, make sure to enjoy this cozy meal sooner rather than later.

Brussels sprout + fennel lasagna

Ingredients
9 lasagna noodles
1/2 onion chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried italian herb mix
9 ounces extra-lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups brussels sprouts thinly sliced
1/2 cup fennel bulb thinly sliced
The truth is it cialis for sale online is only a treatment for psychological erectile dysfunction. 4. So, the company spend huge amount for the software purchase or download. http://pharma-bi.com/cialis-4533.html free viagra samples In other cases, there are early symptoms that may not, at first purchased this pfizer viagra tablets sight, have any connection to cancer. Everything remains may be the buy generic cialis unhappiness and negative feelings struggling to be heard. 1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon meyer lemon zest
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley chopped
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon (scant) ground nutmeg
1/2 cup grates mozzarella cheese

Directions
Pre-heat over to 375°.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add noodles and follow cooking directions on the package. Drain cooked noodles and spread flat on a clean tea towel.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, herbs and beef to the pan, cook for about 14 minutes or until the beef has browned. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a sauce pan heated to medium heat, melt butter. Stir in flour and mix until smooth, slowly stir in the milk and add the bay leaf, salt and nutmeg. Turn pan to medium-low heat stirring occasionally until sauce thickens.

In a bowl mix together ricotta, lemon zest and parsley. Season with fresh ground pepper to taste.

Scoop enough béchamel sauce into a 8×8 baking dish to cover the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of noodles. Spread half of the ricotta mixture onto the noodles and top with half of the brussels sprouts and fennel. Add a second layer of noodles and more béchamel sauce. Next layer on all of the meat mixture and top with another layer of noodles pouring on additional béchamel sauce. Spread on the remaining ricotta, fennel and brussels sprouts and add the final layer of noodles. Pour on the remaining béchamel sauce and place in the oven.

Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella; bake for an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before serving.

A new month is upon us. March is here and there isn’t any time to look back. The days of February went flying by in a greyish blur—how did that happen? One thing I really appreciated at the beginning of February was Tina’s post on pausing for a moment. It reminded me to take stock of where I was and where I wanted to be. I have this good-intentioned list of things I want to make a priority in my day. Some days it is harder than others to focus on those things. But taking the time to acknowledge that I may have slipped on some of those items is an act of faith that I can right that wrong. And that if those things are still a priority, I can bring them back into focus. I’m kind of loving that idea of restarting with each month.

Cooking gives me a similar opportunity to restart with any meal. There is always room to keep learning and reworking ideas with my next meal no more than a few hours off. Things don’t have to stay the same. Which brings me to the cauliflower…

I’ve been stuck in a bit of a cauliflower rut. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a tasty place to be and I’ve been quite happy here! For me, cauliflower has been a surprise vegetable. For many years, I just ignored it, thinking I had no real interest in it. But all of that changed when I figured out that tossing the florets in a little olive oil and salt, plus a hot oven, created something entirely different. Given over to the high heat, the cauliflower sizzles and spits and in short order develops a golden crunch that is like nothing that ever came out of the steamer. Prepared this way, I think I could eat cauliflower for days.

But back to the preparation of the cauliflower, I was reading a recipe for a salad—a hearty dish that seemed like it would be a perfect one-dish meal—when the listed method stopped me in my tracks. Cauliflower, in a skillet—no more need for a roasting pan or high heat oven. I couldn’t wait to try it out. And just like that, I was starting fresh. There is still hope…

This salad’s bright lemony dressing revives my taste buds while I await the arrival of some fresh spring produce. It sits amazingly well, so packing it up for a little al fresco lunch is a great idea. And leftovers are still delicious the next day. I’m big on the idea of a one-bowl lunch, so the addition of a fried or poached eggs really fills out the meal for me.

Warm cauliflower salad

Adapted from Bon Appétit’s recipe here

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¼ cup Pardina lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
½ head cauliflower, divided into florets
7 oz. gigante or butter beans, about ½ can, rinsed and drained
¹⁄3 cup flat Italian parsley leaves, washed
1 tablespoon French tarragon, finely chopped
2 eggs, cooked to your preference

Place lentils in a small pot and cover generously with water. Season with salt. Bring water to a boil, then turn the heat to medium. Let lentils simmer until just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain lentils and rinse in cold water. Set aside.

To make dressing, combine mayonnaise, lemon zest and juice, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Whisk to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower florets and cook until they begin to brown, about 6 minutes. Add a tablespoon or two of water to the pan, cover with a lid and allow to steam for 2 minutes.

Place cauliflower, beans, lentils, parsley and tarragon in a bowl. Toss gently with dressing to coat and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Garnish with a little parsley and top with a warm egg, if desired.

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The deluge started this afternoon, settling itself in for the weekend like an unwanted house guest. Can you tell that I am pretty much over the rain this season? In my mind there is only one cure for such unsavoury situations like the arrive of the pineapple express. Gin.

Gin has long been a favourite of mine, but not because I often have unwanted house guests. I love its botanical flavours, its simplicity and at the same time its complexity. It was much to my delight when I learned that 2 and a half blocks for my house, a small batch distillery had opened up. Joy of joys, gin was one item on their fresh sheet. So after work one day I meandered on down to their store front to check out the situation.

Long Table Distillery is Vancouver’s first small batch distillery. Charles, one of the owners showed us around, introduced us to their products and shared some of the exciting things we have to look forward to from Long Table. Then Charles pulled out a 10 gallon bucket of foraged juniper berries. Long Table’s London Dry style gin lets their hand-picked, west coast juniper berries be the star, with just a lovely hint of lemon. All and all the gin is a real star. One that is equally exceptional, whether enjoyed shaken over ice or in a cocktail. Did I mention their distillery is just one block off my daily running route. I think I need to adjust my route!

 

Lemongrass, Gin & Soda

2 oz gin
1 oz lemongrass syrup (recipe below)
Dash of fresh lime juice
Soda water

Fill a highball glass half full of ice, pour in gin, lemongrass syrup and the juice of one wedge of lime. Stir and top with soda water. Garnish with a lime. I found experimenting with different types of citrus can give you really lovely results. You could switch out the lime for a little blood orange and lemon or perhaps even a meyer lemon.

Lemongrass Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 stalks lemongrass (core only) grated or sliced

In a small sauce pan bring to a light boil water, sugar and lemongrass. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Gently boil for 10 to 15 minutes, then set aside to cool. Using a sieve or cheese cloth strain the lemongrass from the syrup, pour into a jar and store in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

The idea of fermenting anything I was planning to eat took me by surprise. For some reason, it sounded a little risky to prep any food and leave it sitting around, waiting for some miraculous transformation to occur. Truth be told, you can’t just offer up any food to the process of fermentation, only some things will respond gracefully to this process. But as it turns out, this idea had been sitting with me for quite some time.

A few years back, I was reminded of my grandfather’s recipe for sauerkraut. Every autumn, Grandpa would make a big bucket of sauerkraut in the quickly cooling evenings. My favorite memory from those evenings were of the little pinches of salty shredded cabbage that he would pass me out of the bucket as he worked the cabbage. I can’t quite remember what brought that memory back to me. Maybe it was a guy who started bringing homemade sauerkraut, kimchi and pickles to the farmer’s market, but when I saw him there with his fermented jars, I figured I’d better give it a go. Things progressed—I bought jars, I shredded pounds of cabbage. My pantry was lined with slowly bubbling jars. What came next delighted all of us. Crisp, sharp and sour, we couldn’t stop eating the sauerkraut. I couldn’t keep up with the demand. A fermenting time of at least four weeks turned out the best flavor. But in the time it took to eat the first batch, the second was nowhere near ready. A few seasons later, I’ve got the timing figured out, but I’m also eager to try out some other fermented foods.

Long: This herbal ingredient with its botanical name is caryophyllus aromaticus is commonly called as clove and this ingredient was tested on male rats to find that these will not purchase cheap levitra work for them. Psychotherapy can discount levitra frankkrauseautomotive.com be helpful in ameliorating psychic pain, anxiety, depression or sexual dysfunction. It slows down your aging http://frankkrauseautomotive.com/testimonial/honest-friendly-very-easy-purchase/ cialis buy online process. Usually they get erection issues due to obesity, lack of physical activity, smoking, drinking alcohol or http://frankkrauseautomotive.com/?buy=8760 viagra 25 mg eating too much salt to even stress or genetics. A month or so back, Sarah Britton, of My New Roots, posted a little feature that she called Fabulous Fermentation Week. She shared a recipe for kimchi that piqued my interest and since then, I’ve been carrying around a mental shopping list of the ingredients. Finally, this weekend I accumulated everything save the daikon radish. But, it seemed a critical mass had been reached and the kimchi was happening, daikon or no. Chopping and shredding ensued until a large bowl was filled with vegetable goodness. Topping that off was a big scoop of tongue tingling ginger-chile paste and salt that was massaged into the cabbage. Resting for a few hours, the veggies started to lose their water and shrink down in the bowl. Stuffed into jars, this mixture now sits on a quiet corner of the kitchen, awaiting the miracle of fermentation. And good news, the kimchi only takes a few days to ferment, then it is off to the fridge, where it can sit for months.

Since my kimchi is still in progress, I’m going to send you straight to the source. You can find Sarah’s recipe for kimchi here. Go on, try it out. I’ll be back with a kimchi recipe in a few weeks if all goes as planned on the countertop!

Is tea the new coffee? I stumbled upon this question in an article or some such business earlier this week. My immediate reaction was, “Yes! Tea is totally the new coffee.” But upon reflection I realized “no”, both hold such distinctly different roles in my daily routine that I couldn’t do with only one or the other. Coffee is peppy, social and bright, it is the drink that drags me out of bed in the morning and shoves me out the front door. Tea is a whole other story. It is cozy, relaxing and lulls me into bed at the end of the day. Simply put, coffee is an extrovert and tea is an introvert. And life wouldn’t have any balance without both.

I’ll admit it, I have a nightly tea tradition. The tradition varies a little, sometimes I have a cookie with my tea and if I’m really, really lucky, I get to have a Tim Tam. But most often I just have tea. Vanilla SleepyTime is the tea du jour. If I happen to have a Tim Tam on hand, the Tim Tam slam is the only way to go. Are you are sitting in front of your computer thinking “what the heck is a Tim Tam slam?” this guy will show you how it is done and if you don’t believe him Jennifer Love Hewitt will show you too. It is legit.

Sadly, I’m currently out of Tim Tams and my evening tea has been cookie-less for quite sometime now. As I was digesting the whole tea vs. coffee thing, I was inspired to do a little baking, and my inspiration point was a certain coffee flavoured cookie that we often had around the house at Christmas. If tea really is the new coffee, then I should make a tea flavoured cookie to celebrate. Earl Grey is my tea flavour of black tea, so naturally it is only fitting that I use it in my cookies. To give them a little twist, I decided to dip them in chocolate to mimic our Christmas coffee cookies.

I know that I have been talking about chocolate dipped cookies but I have yet to show you any proof that they were ever made. Keep scrolling down and you will see one. Here is the deal. I dipped half of the cookies and then did a taste test. I know what you are thinking, “Chocolate and Earl Grey, sounds like a match made in heaven.” I know right! That is exactly what I thought. I don’t what to sell the chocolate dipped version short but they weren’t mind-blowing. They were fine, perhaps even good, but not better. So, unless you are a chocolate fiend, I would suggest that you just keep these cookies as is. Crisp, delicately favoured with tea and delicious.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies
makes 2 dozen | adapted from The Kitchn

1 cup all purpose flour
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1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon Russian Earl Grey tea leaves
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup unsalted butter (cut into cubes)

Using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle grind the tea into a fairly fine powder. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Add the vanilla, water and butter into the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until it forms a dough. Form the dough into a ball and place it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a smooth log shape, wrap with the parchment paper and freeze for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat your oven to 375. Remove dough from the freezer and slice into 1/3″ slices. Evenly space cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the cookies onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy with a piping hot cup of tea!

For me, the best gatherings happen in the kitchen—food preparation in full swing, maybe a little snack or something to sip on, all the while chatting with friends or family. The meal comes together at a leisurely place, but the time spent preparing and enjoying it together is the event itself. These are the cooking moments that I hang some of my best food memories around.

One of my favorite “cooking as the event” moments happened in Paris with my sister. Since when does an evening cooking dinner in a tiny rented kitchen upstage an afternoon wandering the avenues of Paris, right? It was years ago, but I still remember the deep pleasure of shopping for our dinner items at the market, deciding what suited our mood for the evening, then negotiating with the market vendor on the exact specimens, according to our estimated meal time. Hauling our supplies up flights and flights of stairs to our apartment, deciding to while away the chilly evening hours in the kitchen. At some point, the hot steam coming from the pots bubbling on the stove fills up the tiny space forces us to throw open the window to the narrow courtyard that our building wraps around. Outside we hear the clatter and bustle of dinner coming together for everyone else in our building and we feel at ease.

Of course, not every meal is a magical Parisian memory. Most often, I enjoy the company of friends and family in my own kitchen where we partake in the age-old ritual of preparing and sharing a meal. It’s likely not a fancy meal, but nourishing and prepared with care—the very acts of chopping and dicing friendship at its best. And in these dark days of winter, it is something to look forward to. So in that celebratory spirit, I created this cocktail to share.

Meyer lemons are a seasonal favorite of mine—but hording fresh fruit is only advisable when there is a good use for it in sight. This cocktail proves to be a delicious way to highlight the sweet and pronounced flavor of the lemon.

Meyer’s Refresher

Serves 2
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3 oz. Meyer lemon juice
3 oz. gin
4 dashes grapefruit bitters
Scant 2 teaspoons rosemary simple syrup, recipe follows
Sparkling wine or cava, to finish

Combine all ingredients and shake over ice. Pour into two small glasses, add ice and top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a slice of Meyer lemon.

Rosemary Syrup

Makes 1 cup

1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 cup fresh rosemary sprigs
peel of one Meyer lemon

Combine water and sugar in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for about 5 minutes, until all of the sugar is dissolved. Add in the rosemary and lemon peel and stir to incorporate. Remove from heat and let steep for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. Remove peel and rosemary and store in the fridge.

For Christmas this year I received a new rolling-pin. It is no ordinary rolling-pin, it is a balyunONE rolling-pin designed by Canadian designer Tahir Mahmood. I had been coveting this handmade, european style rolling-pin for some time, so naturally I was beyond delighted when I found it under the tree on Christmas morning! I have since been trying to devise the perfect way to christen my rolling-pin. But inspiration eluded me, all I could come up with was cookies or pie. Delicious as they may, be neither was what I was looking for. I was bemoaning this fact to Ginger the other night and she struck gold when she suggested that I should make noodles. Noodles, what a spectacular idea! I had never made my own pasta before and it was a challenge that I was up for.

I turned to google, my trusty source for all things I don’t know and began reading about fresh pasta. This is where I ran into a little conflicting information. Who would have thought that I would find conflicting information on the internet! Some said “no” to hand rolled pasta, some said “yes, but it is a little tricky”. And finally I found a recipe from Jamie Oliver and he seemed to give hand rolled pasta a whole-hearted “yes”. I was in, if Jamie says it is ok, then I should be fine right?

The noodle dish that I wanted to make is a dish inspired by a udon noodle dish featured on the menu of one of my favourite neighbourhood Japanese restaurants. The original is a luxurious combination of noodles and wild mushrooms, dredged in a sauce of miso and butter. For my version, I decided to give the recipe a little italian flare, replacing the udon noodles with fresh pasta. Let’s get back to the making of the pasta, as it is a bit of a tragic tale that needs to be shared so that no one else makes the same mistakes as I. So pasta dough, simple right? A little flour, some salt and a few eggs. It was easy, it mixed up nicely and after a little kneading, turning into a lovely smooth dough. I slipped it into the fridge and prepped up my sauce ingredients. Here is the tricky part, some people think a machine is a necessity if you want to get the pasta to a nice thinness, others like Jamie say that all the old Italian grandmas never use pasta machines, so with a little extra elbow grease, it can be done. I forged on, rolling my pasta to what I thought was a lovely thinness, cutting into wide noodles, sprinkling with semolina and repeating. Easy peasy. Perhaps I should have realized that it was just a little too easy.

I started my pasta water to boil, sautéed my garlic and mushrooms, things were going along just tickety boo. Calamity struck when I dropped the noodles into boiling salted water and virtually immediately the noodles doubled in width and thickness! Seriously what the heck  is up with that. No one mentioned anything about the noodles “rising”! Be warned, the noodles rise. When all is said and done, I think that with a little more practice and finesse, hand rolled noodles aren’t that big of a stretch, they just take a little patience.

Handmade noodles with wild mushrooms & miso butter sauce
Serves 4

For the noodles:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt

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2 cloves garlic
8-12 oz wild mushrooms sliced (I used a blend of Chanterelle, Brown hon shimeji, white hon shimeji, baby blue oyster, hen of the woods, king erengi and nameko mushrooms)
3 tablespoons butter
3 green onions, sliced, whites and greens separated
3 tablespoons miso paste
1 1/2 tablespoons sake
1 1/2 tablespoons soya sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds for garnish

Preparing the pasta:
On a clean workspace, mix together the two flours and salt forming into a mound. Make a well in the centre of the mound and crack the three eggs into the well. Whisk the eggs lightly with a fork and then begin mixing the mixture together with your hands. Once the dough comes together, knead for 10 to 15 minutes until you have a nice smooth dough. Shape the kneaded dough into a dish, cover completely with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. *Most recipes don’t recommend letting it rest overnight as it can turn a grey colour.

Cut the disk of dough into 4 pieces, as it is easier to work with in smaller amounts. Lightly dust a work surface with semolina flour and begin to roll out the dough. Roll the dough out as thinly as possible, mine was about 3 mm thick and it would have been better if it had been about  1-2 mm thick. Use a knife to cut the pasta into your desired noodle shape. Set finished noodles aside and sprinkle with more semolina to avoid sticking. Continue rolling and cutting pasta. Cover the finished pasta with a damp towel to avoid drying.

Preparing the sauce:
Cook the noodles in boiling salted water until al dente. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of your noodles, so check for doneness often.

Heat a medium sauce pan over medium heat, once the pan is hot melt the butter. Add the garlic and the whites from the green onions to the pan and sauté for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft and just starting to turn golden on the edges. Add in the miso, soy sauce, sake and oyster sauce and stir until well mixed. Combined the noodles with the mushrooms and toss together until the noodles covered with sauce.

Garnish with the remaining green onions and black sesame seeds and serve!

We’re bringing Valentine’s in-house this year. I know there is a case to be made for a lovely evening out, but this year, I think dining in is going to be just as much fun. And let’s be honest, finding a babysitter on Valentine’s evening is no easy task! At the request of a three-year-old, we’re going to “build” a raclette. He’s still working out the details of the accompanying meats and vegetables he’d like to cook, but I think he’ll come up with a good plan. And with a starting point of melting cheese and crusty bread, it’s hard to go wrong.

My son has always been accustomed to time in the kitchen. His first baby swing was set up in a corner of the kitchen and stayed there throughout his infancy. As a result, he has become keenly interested in what is going on—what is being prepared and more importantly, when can he have a taste of it? I take full responsibility for making an occassion out of every treat in the oven—turning on the oven light, and “voila,” pulling back the tea towel curtains with a grand flourish. Any baking process that involves a mixer has him standing at the kitchen counter, tightly gripping the rail of the chair, mesmerized by the spinning beaters. It hasn’t taken him long to learn the location of the baking staples and he dashes back and forth from the pantry, retrieving sugar and flour. He takes great pride in the moments when he alone holds the whisk over the bowl, attempting to stir with as much bravado as he can muster. I couldn’t be more pleased.

As he has gotten a little older, I’ve been looking for ways to get him a little more involved with whatever I am working on. It’s no surprise that he is more willing to try things he has had some hand in. Try as I might, I can’t get him interested in salad. But put him at the sink with a head of lettuce to wash, and suddenly the boy is crunching through leaves with the enthusiasm of a small rabbit! And while I generally don’t have to do much to get him interested in treats, I’ve been trying to include him in more of the baking steps. The gingerbread twigs I baked at the holidays were perfect for him and the inclusion of sparkles made them that much better. For Valentines, I’ve been looking for something that we could make together. This holiday is rich with fancy sweet treats, but what about something for a three-year-old to get involved with? How about some no-bake bars that require little more than a few swipes of the spatula through the melted chocolate, mingling marshmallows and crunchy nuts in a few deft movements? Sounds like a plan to me!

I hope your day is sweet, whatever your plans may be!

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Rocky Road

There are hundreds of Rocky Road recipes out there. This version uses dark chocolate, 60 to 75 percent cocoa is a nice range, for a rich flavor without quite as much sweetness. I added salted pistachios to bring a little savory note to these treats and a bright pop of color when cut into squares. A sprinkle of salt adds sparkle and brings balance to the rich chocolate. Perfect for assembling with children and sharing with sweethearts.

11 oz of good quality dark chocolate, chopped
10 oz. mini marshmallows
2/3 cup pistachios, shelled
Sprinkle of flaky salt, optional

Line an 8×8 baking pan with aluminum foil. Set aside.

Melt chocolate in a large bowl over a pot of steaming water. Remove from heat. Stir in the nuts and marshmallows. Place mixture in the prepared pan and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for at least two hours to set. Lift foil from pan and cut chocolate mixture into small squares. Wrapped tightly, squares will keep for several days.

Makes about 16 squares.

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Tuckers
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan

I made the cookies exactly as the recipe specified and they really are absolutely perfect. Apparently the trick to making these cookies is to not rush them. “…go low and slow—both on the stove-top and in the oven—to prevent the egg whites from scrambling.” Dorie says.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
4 large egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon food-grade pure rose extract (not rose water); optional
Red liquid food colouring
White sanding sugar

Preparation
In a medium sauce pan, cook the coconut, egg whites and sugar over medium-low heat. Stir the coconut mixture occasionally until it feels hot and dry to the touch, this should take about 10 minutes.
Now it is time to flavour the coconut! Turn the mixture out into a heatproof bowl, stir in the vanilla, rose extract and one drop of red food colouring. Mix well resisting the temptation to add more colour. Cover with plastic wrap patting it right on top of the dough to prevent it from drying out as it chills. Cool for 5 hours or overnight.

Heat the oven to 300°. Line a baking sheet with a double layer of parchment paper or two silicone baking mats. Form dough into 1 tablespoon sized balls, shape into hearts and dip in sanding sugar.

Put cookies in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until they are lightly golden and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

There’s a low-lying fog that has wrapped up our valley for the past few days. Maybe it has been even longer, as I tend to forget those details. It’s almost mysterious in the way that it seeps in overnight and envelops the morning horizon, muting the sun to a vaguely bright spot in the fog. Depending on the day, the thickness of the fog varies—sometimes so thick that I can’t see much more than a car or two in front of me on the street. Other times, it is wispy and soft, bringing a romantic blur to the horizon. At night when I walk the neighborhood streets, sometimes I can see the stars through holes in the fog while street lights glow orange with fluorescent halos. The fog never fails to make me feel cozy, wishing for a blanket and a cup of tea.

On foggy days, I search for brightness elsewhere, like on my plate. While I can’t control the weather and shaking my fist at the sky has brought little result, the meals on my plate are completely under my control, so I adjust as needed. For some reason, the weather has me reaching for the vinegar. The bright acidity brings life to some warm comfort foods and an irresistible sharpness to crunchy salad greens.

The flavors of this salad are not ones that I would readily dreamed on my own. The pairing of quick-pickled red onion with the candy sweetness of Medjool dates is brilliant and I knew immediately I would love it. It’s just one of those combinations I could already imagine before putting vinegar to onion. The recipe jumped off the page as I was browsing through my new cookbook, Jerusalem, this weekend. I know the book has been out for a while, but sometimes I have to pace myself through the myriad of new cookbooks released every fall, adding some of my top picks to my Christmas list, then stacking them up beside the bed for evening reading. (Tell me I’m not alone in this little habit.) There are plenty of dishes I am hoping to make from this book, but this was the one I had to make first while I plotted out my plans for the next dishes.

Spinach salad with almonds and dates

Adapted from Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
½ small red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
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1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup whole raw almonds, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons sumac
½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or chile flakes
5 oz baby spinach
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
Salt, to taste

Combine the vinegar, red onion and dates in a small bowl. Sprinkle with a little salt and stir to combine. Let sit for at least 20 minutes. When ready to use, drain and discard any remaining vinegar.

In a small pan, combine the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped almonds and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Once almonds are toasted and golden, remove from pan and set on a paper towel to drain. Sprinkle with sumac, pepper flakes and a little salt and allow to cool.

When ready to serve, add the spinach to a large mixing bowl and top with the almonds, red onion and dates. Dress the salad with lemon juice and remaining olive oil. Toss to coat and add a little salt, if needed. Serve immediately.