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We have all had a few tragedies in our day I’m sure, but some of us have had a few more than others. The word tragedy is perhaps a little strong as it conjures up more serious events, I however am talking about “tragedies”. Those events that were so totally devastating at the time but now, in hindsight, are actually pretty amusing and are the stories we often share and laugh about. I have had my fair share of these sort of tragedies. For me, tragedy started striking early. There was the time that I fell down a flight of concrete stairs with my arms zipped inside my jacket, the time I decided to draw a raggedy ann doll face on my own face with markers, then there was the time that I ran over our dog Max while racing down a hill on my bike, and the time I was biking so fast that I missed my corner and hit a telephone pole… the list goes on.

But aside from the physical tragedies, kitchen tragedies also started early too. There was the cornstarch and powdered sugar debacle (which I may have mentioned before), the time I sneezed into the cookie dough and of course the time Ginger and I did an extra thorough cleaning job on my grandma’s cast iron pan. As I’m sure you can see, I didn’t have a smooth start in the kitchen.

While I may not be the most graceful person around town, I have gotten things a little more under control. It has been so long since my last kitchen tragedy that I really couldn’t even tell you about it. Now instead of kitchen tragedies, more often you will see what I like to call “kitchen disaster bombs” around my house. The disaster bomb differs from the tragedy as it isn’t rooted in failure, but rather it refers to the beautiful mess left by a cooking project. This delicious, tart and sweet rhubarb crumble was a total kitchen disaster bomb! The remains of which can still be found sprawling across my kitchen.

One of my favourite and regularly under used spring time treats in rhubarb. This vegetable, as it turns out, is often times just a conduit for strawberries. Strawberry rhubarb this and strawberry rhubarb that, what about just rhubarb? Last spring, a favourite dessert to come out of my kitchen, was a plain old rhubarb pie. Calling it both plain and old really isn’t fair, because it was nothing of the sort, but it’s simplicity was delightful. This spring I am hoping to make a few more rhubarb-centric kitchen disaster bombs, starting of course with this Rhubarb Crumble, which was inspired by a crumble over at Local Kitchen.

Rhubarb Crumble

Filling
½ brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
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zest and juice of 1 lemon
pinch of fleur de sel

Topping
¾ cup flour
⅔ cup almonds, toasted and chopped
½ cup old fashioned rolled oats
⅓ cup brown sugar
½ tsp fleur de sel
⅓ cup butter, melted
pinch of fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Make filling: In a medium bowl mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add the rhubarb, lemon juice and zest, and salt. Mix well to incorporate all the ingredients. Set aside.

Make topping: Combine in a large bowl flour, oats, almonds, sugar, salt and pepper. Using a fork blend in the melted butter.

Make crumble: Transfer rhubarb and all its juices to a 9-inch baking dish. Using your hands press the crumble into large chunks and place it on top of the rhubarb sprinkle with remaining smaller bits of the topping. You can use your hands to even out the crumble so that all the rhubarb is covered.

Place baking dish in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet, in case of drips. Bake until golden brown and the juices are bubbling, about 40 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature and always topped with ice cream!

I’ve been feeling a little out of sorts lately. For one thing, I developed a serious injury three weeks before my half marathon. I managed to injure the tendon in my upper thigh and couldn’t walk, much less run, without some sort of limp and a great deal of pain. Resting for a few weeks was not enough and in the end, I was unable to run with Tina. I decided to at least start the run with her and as we approached the first transit station home, ease out of that crowd of runners to meet up with her at the finish line. I wanted to go on. That throng of runners gives off such amazing energy. It was a gorgeous morning for a run—just the type of day that I envisioned on many of my cold dark winter runs. I knew that if I could hold on through that pain, I could make it. After all, I hadn’t trained for four long months to have this result. But in the end, the realization that building on that injury  was going to keep me away from running even longer won out. The disappointment that came along with opting out of that goal kind of took the wind out of my sails. I may have been a little mopey. I’m sorry.

In the midst of all of that injury nonsense, I haven’t been able to figure out what to eat. Usually I have some idea or ingredient that sits in the back of my brain until mealtime. But for the past week or so, there’s been nothing. All I could come up with was salad, craving the crunch and texture of fresh veggies. Not too long ago, I was on a pho kick with a crisper drawer full of Thai basil, cilantro and bean sprouts to accompany a simmering pot of broth. As the temperature warmed up, the mint began to grow wild in my herb pot and soup bowl became salad bowl. What’s more, I got carried away with the idea of an iceberg lettuce salad. Thinking back, I am pretty sure it was fueled by Eva’s amazing photos of Kronner Burger that she shared here.  I know, I know, the burger is supposed to be the star of that show, but the wedge salad spoke to me. I don’t think I’ve created the right recipe yet, but let’s just say it is inspirational.
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While I was in Vancouver, Tina and I grabbed a couple of salads to take home while the boys dined on poutine—while in Canada, right? Tina had finished her big run earlier in the day and we were wracking our brains for something simple and delicious to eat. Which is when we landed on the idea of takeaway salads from a local Vietnamese restaurant. Pouring over the menu, we quickly narrowed down our options to the taro and pomelo salads. The kitchen was tiny and surely represented generations of one family, all working together. A young girl up front juiced her way through a mountain of fresh limes that perfumed the air. Dad or uncle somebody stood further back in the kitchen, mixing up dressing for our salads and grandma prepped vegetables with a selection of sharp and colorful mandolines. We took our meal home, spreading it across the apartment table so we could share. The taro salad was spiked with pungent rau ram (a flavorful herb sometimes known as Vietnamese cilantro) and savory fried shallots. The pomelo salad was sweet with juicy citrus and fresh mint. And they both paired beautifully with the bottle of celebratory cava we had on hand to celebrate the end of our run. Happily, Tina shared with me despite my lack of participation. Thank goodness for sisters.

I haven’t always been in the loop regarding Cinco de Mayo. But I am generally pretty excited for any chance to add a party to my routine! I had only just mentioned this to my husband before he started coming up with questions for me—what was I doing celebrating Cinco de Mayo? This wasn’t my holiday, nor that of any of my people. What business did I have poaching someone else’s party? Apparently he is a little more possessive of holiday celebrations than I am. I suppose this might have something to do with the fact that I’ve been straddling two different holiday calendars for years.

Ever since I moved to the US, I’ve been back and forth between various holidays. How am I to handle Thanksgiving with the Canadian holiday in October and the American in November? No matter, I’ll celebrate twice! Is the May long weekend Victoria Day or Memorial Day? They are not the same weekend, but close enough to cause confusion. And let’s be honest, I wasn’t really thrilled to have to give up the extra holidays that seem to pepper the Canadian calendar or answer the now-routine question of “What, you mean it’s not a long weekend for you?”

Perhaps fueled by this shedding of vacation days, I’ve been eager to pick up more. And what’s more, these holidays come with the chance to discover new flavors. First up was Bastille Day or le quatorze julliet—why not throw another holiday into the month of July? It actually fit perfectly with what has become a French-inspired month in our house as we follow along with the epic three-week Tour de France.

So far, I have not been able to connect Cinco de Mayo with any cycling event, which I am sure would help its acceptance at our house. But that might be why they invented margaritas. And while I lack any real knowledge of traditional foods prepared for this meal, I figured that a taco party couldn’t be so far off course. We love those around here. And while I usually favor vegetarian taco fillings, this spicy chicken seems like a special dish to make for a holiday or get-together.

So it may not surprise you, but I am going to take a little break from my Monday post next week. I’m going to be in beautiful Vancouver, B.C., visiting Tina. And if all goes as planned, we’re going to spend a few hours of Cinco de Mayo running a half marathon together. And if that isn’t reason to celebrate, well, I don’t know what else could be! Except for those margaritas…

Chicken Tinga

Adapted from Sunset magazine

This tasty filling works well with tacos or mini tortillas. I liked the fixings piled high on crisp tostaditas, so I am listing that preparation here.

Tostaditas
Vegetable oil
16 small corn tortillas

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1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoon puréed canned chipotles in adobo*
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups cooked and shredded chicken

Garnishes
Finely sliced green cabbage
Fresh pico de gallo
Thinly sliced radishes
Crumbled queso fresco
Avocado, cut into thin slices
Crema, thinned with water so it’s pourable
Cilantro leaves
Limes wedges

Make tostaditas: Heat 1/4 inch oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once oil begins to shimmer, add tortillas to the pan and cook until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes, turning once. When done, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

Cook tinga: Spoon 1 tablespoon of hot oil from the tostaditas into a second frying pan. Over medium heat, sauté onion for a few minutes until soft and golden. Add in shallots and salt; continue cooking for a few minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup water, tomato paste, chipotle sauce and sugar and mix to combine. Add chicken. Cook for about 2 minutes, until mixture is bubbling. Add more salt to taste and more water if needed to keep the mixture saucy.

To serve: Set tostaditas on plate and serve alongside the tinga and garnishes.

*Purée the contents of the can and freeze the remainder. It keeps beautifully in the freezer and is so convenient.

A few weeks ago I shared with you one of the perks of being involved in a food blog. This week let me enlighten you with the second reason. Recipe testing. One of my co-workers showed up to the office earlier this week with a little tub of roasted almonds from Whole Foods. Orange ginger almonds to be exact. We all gathered around her desk to sample the almonds. We marvelled over their roasty taste, their sweet crunch, the spicy ginger and tangy orange flavours. We looked at the ingredients, wrote them all down, discussed some tactics for making the nuts and finally I was challenged to recreate the recipe and post it.

Not one to back down from a challenge, I accepted and here we are. Since I am not the recipe creating queen, through a quick google search I was lucky enough to find that just about everyone and their dog is in love with Whole Foods orange ginger almonds. There where recipes galore and I even found the original recipe. Problem is, they are all different. Some called for egg whites, some for honey, some for sugar, some were baked in the oven, others on the stove top!

It was all too tricky for me, I needed a distraction. So I saddled up to the computer and ordered myself a new pair of running shoes. With the shoes ordered, I was ready to make some decisions. Honey, salt and baked on lower heat for longer.

Orange Ginger Almonds
*These aren’t exactly like the Whole Foods almonds. But they are highly addictive.

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1/2 of a navel orange, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 300F.

Zest and juice half an orange. In a mixing bowl combine almonds, orange juice, zest, ginger, honey and salt. Mix until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread almonds out in a single layer. Bake for 20-30 minutes checking and stirring often.

Let cool completely before serving. Store in an air tight container.

I’ve been trying to adopted a Swedish mindset to this chilly spring we’ve been having. Just this weekend, I was listening to Rick Steves and his weekly radio show. This is a dangerous program for me because my love of travel is always piqued by his interviews with tour guides and residents of faraway cities. His subject for a portion of this week’s show was Stockholm, Sweden. This city has not been on the top of my travel list, but I was intrigued by the descriptions of its residents and their tendency towards an outdoor lifestyle, no matter what the season. The tour guide described cozy restaurant patios where you could go to enjoy a drink, complete with toasty blankets for those evenings a little extra warmth is needed.

This was all of the motivation I needed to pull out a cozy blanket from the closet and head out to the patio. It’s really not that warm yet, but when the sun starts to shine, I feel like I really must be outside to enjoy it. And now, wrapped up in blankets, we’ve been enjoying brief slivers of sunset sky before heading indoors for the evening.

If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know that I’ve had a bit of spring fever in the kitchen recently. The changing seasons make me look for the next dish that is going to sum up the flavor of the moment for me. Salads of all proportions have been popping up—platters and bowls that take over the meal with their green crunchiness and leafy goodness. But spring isn’t wholly captured in a salad bowl. The other thing I’m searching for is food that feels light after a season of warm and filling. Hmm…meringue, anyone? It’s time for one last hurrah for the citrus, and quickly, before the rhubarb takes over the place.

For years, I’ve been sidestepping the crust on any piece of pie that I’ve ever been served. Sure, I love the fillings—spicy pumpkin, luscious summer cherry and creamy lemon. Better still the toppings, a dollop of whip cream, scoop of ice cream or an airy cap of meringue. But no matter what the filling, my perfect pie would certainly be crust free.

So I do find myself a little surprised to have never really considered the option of deconstructing the pie, leaving the crust behind to focus on my favorite part of the dessert. But all that has changed when I found the recipe for lemon meringue pots de crème in The New York Times a few weeks back. I’ve got some lost time to make up for now!

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Adapted from The New York Times

1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar, plus 4 tablespoons
4 large eggs, separated, room temperature
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup lemon juice
Zest of one large lemon
1 tablespoon finely chopped pistachios

Heat half and half and milk in a heavy saucepan or a double-boiler until warm and steaming. In a large mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar. Sift the cornstarch and salt into the mixture, stirring frequently to prevent lumps.

Slowly whisk 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, then slowly add the remaining milk and mix well. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter, lemon juice and zest. Ladle the custard into 6 4-ounce ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pistachios and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl. Combine egg whites and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in a bowl. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon the meringue onto each custard, using all of the meringue. Sprinkle with the pistachio-sugar mixture. Bake until tops are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

This weekend, we headed out adventuring. On this particular sun dappled day, this means that we throw everything in the car, including at least three cameras for me, and start driving. Maybe we’ll head for the mountains where I see a skiff of fresh snow or for the wheat fields that are rippling green in the wind. No matter where we go, the sun shines warmly and the clouds chase each other across the sky. This is a difficult concept for a 3-year-old. The usual questions of “Where are we going?” and “What will we see when we get there?” have no good answers. Happily, everything ended well when we found an old train depot and a caboose at the end of our journey. I couldn’t have planned that part any better!

Even though the air is cool, I know spring is coming. No matter that there is a frost warning tonight. I am keeping that spring feeling in the air with my continued quest to brighten up our meals with a new round of salad options. In part, you could say that I am just trying to clean out the fridge to make room for the massive load of asparagus that is soon to follow. You wouldn’t be wrong.

In the meantime, you might not be familiar with celeriac, or celery root as it is sometimes known. Or perhaps not up on the idea of using it in salad, but I think this is something worth trying. All winter long, celeriac is cooked and stewed up in warm and cozy dishes. But sliced up nice and thin, it adds great texture to salad. And better still, it’s all raw, if that’s your thing, ahem…!

I’ve been meaning to share this salad for some time. It makes use of some of the most available wintertime produce, yet still manages to be fresh and new. As the season has progressed, I’ve changed it up to keep up with my citrus selection. Plus, it seems that the arugula and mint are getting a kick out of our cool sunny weather. And I know I’m not the only one eeking out the last few meals of delicious winter produce. My friend Emily has this stunning recipe up on Food 52 right now.

And on this sad Monday, I realize I have a lot more to be thankful for aside from salad or springtime or sunny days. But sometimes the best I can do in these crazy moments is sit for a quiet minute do just that—be thankful.

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Adapted from Cooking Light

1 small celeriac root, peeled and cut into matchsticks, about 2 cups
2 cups thinly sliced celery
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large pink grapefruit, peeled and segmented
1 cup baby arugula
1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn

Combine celeriac, celery and red onion in a bowl. Toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pink peppercorns and black pepper. Let stand for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, add grapefruit segments, arugula and fresh herbs.

I am starting to get a little antsy for spring. We’ve had a few days of invitingly warm weather with all of the trimmings of spring—lovely temperatures and blue skies filled with drifting white clouds. The trees are beginning to send out anxious green leaves and the tulips are exploding with color. It seems like the season is taunting us though, because just when we set up the patio, the temperatures take a dive and we hurry back inside to warm up. I don’t really mean to complain, but this year I am really looking forward to the warmer months ahead.

Since the weather is not consistently cooperating yet, I’ve begun to force the issue at the table with our menu choices. The comforting and filling soups of winter are gone, saved for another season. My roasting pan is taking a bit of a break from cauliflower and cabbage. Instead, I’ve been looking to vegetable combinations in crunchy salads to make our meals feel a little lighter. I pulled my mandolin out of the pantry and I’ve been thinly slicing everything from radishes to fennel and endive. For some reason, the paper-thin slices of these vegetables evoke spring, even though they have been in my salad rotation for months now.

Our unusually warm winter may have had a hand in it, but I have a row of arugula from last year that is coming on in full force right now. It is a wild variety with leaves shaped like that of a small dandelion. Tufts of dark green foliage are sprouting up in the garden and growing at a surprising rate. While there are not enough greens to fill the salad bowl, I know I’d better keep them trimmed before they get ahead of our salad habit.

So when I found a salad recipe that plays the tongue-tingling pepper bite of arugula off of salty halloumi cheese and tart cherries, I was excited to give it a try. Around here, halloumi is known as “barbecue cheese” by my son. During the warm summer months, I like to throw a couple of slices onto the grill, pairing it with just-cooked vegetables or fresh salads. In this recipe, the cheese is cooked on the stove, which works well even if your patio is not quite ready for spring!

Spring greens and halloumi salad
Serves 4

Adapted from Sunset magazine

Dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil
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1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried mint leaves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Salad
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced thinly
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 cups salad greens
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1 package halloumi cheese, drained and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
4 small sprigs of oregano

To make the dressing, combine the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

To make the salad, toss the sliced fennel with the lemon juice in a bowl. Combine the salad greens and dried cherries on a platter.

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add halloumi slices and oregano sprigs. Cook, turning once, until the cheese turns golden brown. The cheese will give off some brine as it cooks. Once the brine dries, it will be time to turn the cheese. Cooking time will be about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and discard the oregano.

Toss the greens and cherries with just enough dressing to coat, then toss in the fennel. Arrange the halloumi slices on top of the salad and drizzle with any remaining dressing. Serve immediately.

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Cheesecake

No matter what I am baking or prepping in the kitchen, Blaise wants to make a blue version of it. Most often, it’s blue cupcakes. And not just any blue cupcakes, chocolate blue cupcakes. While I am still trying to figure out how to make a dark chocolate cupcake appear sufficiently blue, Easter eggs seemed like the perfect diversion. With the help of a little dye, we could create all the shades of blue he would ever want to imagine. It all started out innocently enough, but little did I realize the complexities of egg dyeing. There were tough decisions to be made, highly saturated liquids to be spilled and room to be made in the fridge for all of those eggs. But back to those eggs…

Around here, we house no sacred Easter bunny myths or traditions. It hasn’t been a careful plan, just a holiday that we have not really spent much time or tradition on. I have always been a fan of a delicious batch of hot cross buns, but I don’t need an occasion for those treats. When it comes to egg decorating, I do fondly remember the tradition as a kid, but I don’t think I’ve revisited that process since my pre-adolescent years. High time, right?

Several weeks back, I found a little mention about making your own Easter egg dye. The colors were lovely—warm and earthy. I don’t quite remember all of the colors pictured, but there was a blue, a yellow and a reddish color that I thought Blaise would like. Plus, I thought it would be the perfect use for a red cabbage that was languishing at the back of the fridge. The question of the dye seemed settled.

But when I got down to the real business of figuring out what we were going to do with all of the eggs, I saw some pretty amazing posts of beautifully dyed eggs. Of course, there were the vegetable-dyed ones that first caught my eye. But then there were the neon eggs and the bright stripes. They were so bright and so cheery that on a recent shopping trip, I all but abandoned my plan of vegetable dyes for a package of glowing neon tablets. But when I got back home and read over the packet, I couldn’t do it. The ingredient list scared me off. The veggie dyes were back on.

What I may have lost in other-worldly egg hues, I made up for in natural ones. I feel particularly lucky in the egg department in that I know people. Yes, that’s right. I get a weekly supply of fresh eggs that I treasure. If I was going to go through the process of making my own egg dye, I was going to color some delicious eggs while I was at it. I even got a special order of a dozen barely blue eggs that already looked Easter-ready. And you can bet we were going to eat them. Hard-boiled eggs are always a big hit at our house. They are easy to throw into a sandwich or a salad and some days, Blaise simply insists on adding one to his meal, whatever it might be. Besides, the prospect of egg salad sandwiches for days certainly didn’t hurt as I was trying to justify all of those eggs cartons taking up space in the fridge with other concerned members of my household.

Making our own dye certainly wasn’t the quickest route for egg dyeing, but we enjoyed the process of watching the colors deepen hour by hour.

And just when I thought my work was done with the blue eggs, that there were no more blue shades to be achieved, Blaise proclaimed that all he really wanted was black. Boys….

Happy Easter!

While there certainly are a lot of colors that you can create at home, I decided to keep it to just three—red, blue and yellow. The great part is that most of these ingredients are common enough that you could easily add them onto your shopping list if you don’t have them already. Add variety by using different colors of eggs and different dipping times to achieve a range of shades. And if you need more variety, you can hop online and find a few more ingredients to round out your color palette.

Vegetable dye

Makes about 4 cups of dye in each color, enough to dye dozens of eggs

1 small head red cabbage
2 pounds beets
3 tablespoons turmeric
Water

Hard boil eggs to your preference and cool.

Make each color in a separate, non-reactive pot.

• To make the blue: Chop cabbage into rough pieces, about 2-inches wide. Place in pot and add just enough water to cover the cabbage.
• To make the red: Cut beets into quarters. Place in a pot and add just enough water to cover the beets.
• To make yellow: Add 4 cups of water to a pot and stir in turmeric.

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Bring each pot to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and allow the liquid to cool. Once cool, strain out the vegetable pieces, if any. Place the liquid in a glass bowl or jar and add 1/8 cup distilled white vinegar to each color.

Add hard-boiled eggs to the liquid and allow to sit. One to two hours gives a pale shade. Allow the eggs to sit in the liquid for several hours or overnight for a deep color. Don’t crowd the eggs or you might have light spots where the eggs touch. Place the dye and eggs in the fridge while they sit. Jiggle the jars occasionally to ensure everything gets evenly coated.

Once desired shade is reached, remove eggs from jar. I had the best luck using a second clean jar and pouring the liquid from one jar to the other until it was empty and I could retrieve the eggs. Rinse in cool water and set eggs out on paper towel or a drying rack and let them dry completely. Refrigerate eggs until ready to use.

Last, but certainly not least, these dyes are highly saturated and will stain. Working in the sink seemed to contained the better portion of my splashes, except for the jar of turmeric water that I sloshed all over my kitchen floor. Shh…I don’t think anyone will notice the yellow hue by the sink.

If the world were to need a picnic champion, I could easily be that champion. I am the picnic proponent in my circle and am quick to point out that there is virtually no situation where a picnic isn’t appropriate. For example, it is sunny out after 6 days of rain… sounds like the perfect time for a picnic. It’s your birthday… we should go on a picnic to celebrate. The work week is complete… picnic. Just want to relax a little… picnic. Wanna hang out with your friends but haven’t cleaned your house lately… picnic. See what I’m saying? You probably want to have a picnic right now don’t you? What about a winter picnic? That sounds like marvelous fun to me too and yes, I have thrown the “p” word around a few times already this year.

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I am sure that it isn’t a big surprise to you that picnics can be great fun. But, you might find yourself thinking “If picnics really are so wonderful, why do I have them so infrequently?”. I’ll tell you why, because you haven’t embraced the pocket picnic yet. When it comes to picnics it is easy to over complicate them, preparing 7 different salads, packing the BBQ, bring 4 coolers of drinks, 17 blankets, a volley ball net… and the list goes on. Not every picnics should be that complicated. Picnics can also be easy, relaxing and spontaneous.

A few years ago while Ginger and I were vacationing in Paris (yeah vacationing, we are fancy that way) all of my preconceived notions about picnics being complicated affairs changed. Some of my best memories are of the outdoor lunches that Ginger and I enjoyed together. We arrived in Paris in late september. Paris has the most beautiful falls, the weather is crisp and fresh in the morning, but warms by early afternoon. There were many an afternoon where Ginger and I found ourselves in the middle of some city square, famished after a morning spent in a museum. In those moments nothing was more inviting than the warmth of the afternoon sun and a park bench.  This is how the Parisian pocket picnic came to be. Every Parisian street is not complete without a lovely bakery and the majority of those bakeries made wonderful baguette sandwiches and pastries (in my case I always went for the flan, big surprise). A sandwich and a small treat were easily stowed away in our pockets or perhaps even an oversized Longchamps tote while we headed off down the street in search of a patch of sun to enjoy a simple, yet tasty lunch in.

With a pocket picnic there are no excuses. A beautiful sandwich comes together quickly or is easily picked up at the local deli and before you know it, you are enjoying a sunny park bench. Some of my favourite sandwiches are the simple ones, filled with a nicely curated selection of vegetables, a hard boiled egg, maybe some beets, something pickled and of course Dijon mustard. Next time you see the sun peeking out from behind the clouds, pack up a quick pocket picnic and afterwards try to tell me that a quick hour spent in the fresh air didn’t just make your day.

We made these sandwiches two ways, one was vegetarian and the other had a spattering of French salami. Another fun way to customize your sandwich is with the mustard and the olive oil. We used a tarragon mustard and a good quality olive oil but, I imagine dijon and a nice lemony vinaigrette would also be a delightful addition.

Boiled Egg, Seared Asparagus & Pickled Onion Sandwiches
Adapted from The Kitchn | Serves 2

1/2 a bunch of thin asparagus spears (about 15-20 spears)
2 demi baguette
4 slices of cheese (go with something full fat like havarti, brie or chèvre)
2 eggs, hard boiled
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons diced raw onion
2 tablespoons French tarragon mustard
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Hard boil eggs and set aside to cool. Prepare the asparagus by trimming off the tough ends, if you couldn’t manage to find thin spears cut them in half length-wise. Now for the quick pickle, dice the red onion and place it in a small bowl topping with red wine vinegar, set aside allowing the pickling magic to happen.

Bring a large skillet to high heat and add a splash of olive oil. Carefully add the asparagus to the pan searing for about 3-4 minutes per side. Only turn the asparagus once or twice as you want to spears to char a little.

Cut the baguettes in half and smear one side of the bread with mustard and the other with a little olive oil. Top each sandwich with two slices of cheese, half of the asparagus, a sliced egg, pickled onions and salt and pepper to taste.