Strained Yogurt

I sometimes refer to using "strained yogurt" in some dishes. The process of straining yogurt is to draw out water which turns regular old plain runny yogurt into a rich unctuous ingredient or dish. It is a suitable replacement for sour cream with lower fat and little extra zing.

Strained yogurt is traditionally used in popular mediterranean and middle eastern recipes such as tzatziki (tzatziki is that rich white cucumber, garlicky stuff that oozes out of a proper souvlaki while you're trying to eat it). It is called Labneh in the Middle-East, but its name varies depending on the country where it's made : Chakka (India), Skyr (Iceland), Mastou (Iraq), Sakoulas (Greece), etc...

Many years ago I brought a container of labneh and some flatbread to a dear Lebanese friend's house for snacks only to be told, "we never buy labneh, we just put a paper towel in a strainer, dump yogurt on top and let it sit over a bowl overnight". She added "my grandmother would sometimes drizzle some cream over the yogurt to add a bit of richness". That was not the last time I bought a ready-to-eat $10 container of Phoenicia brand labneh because sometimes, I want to eat/serve it now and don't have a couple hours or overnight to wait for the water to draw out. But it is fairly infrequent that I don't strain my own.

Use it to make your favourite sour cream based dip recipes or add a touch of garlic, salt, coarsely ground pepper and drizzle with olive oil and serve, as is.

Personal Notes:

Yogurt: I like Liberty brand yogurt. It is full in flavour and does not contain gelatin or other thickeners. It is what yogurt should be: milk product and bacterial culture. I like to mix their Mediterranean (10% m.f.) with their 2% to what I consider a happy medium. It still tastes rich and sinful but has almost half the fat of most store bought labneh.

Flatbread: a local chef, and good friend Q, introduced me to a little gem in my own neighbourhood. Momoi, a Sri-Lankan bakery, bakes fresh nan, roti and chapati flatbreads daily. Before I even tasted the nan I was enamoured by the soft bouncy feel of it through the bag, but once I tasted it, I was hooked. Slightly warmed served with labneh...divine.

Oh, where art thou?

Pine nuts. I love them. Toast 'em and throw'em in anything from salads to stir-frys to add delightful toasty nuttiness to any dish. And pesto...it comes in many flavours...but none as compelling as the classic Genovese basil/pine nut power coupling.

In my garden I grow a lot of basil. Specifically to make pesto, to eat in the summer and freeze for the winter. Late summer when the basil is perfectly mature, I am in full production for weeks, smashing basil leaves in my mortar and pestle to combine with perfectly calculated proportions of raw pine nuts, Padano parmesan cheese, olive oil and garlic.

This year as I am starting my garden and rounding up ingredients to begin this annual ritual, I discovered that pine nuts are impossible to find. Due to an increase in global demand of this little gem, supplies are meager and prices are soaring. Most of my usual haunts have opted to not carry them rather than to charge 3 times more than they priced them no less than a year ago.

This had to happen when I was finally ready to carve my pesto recipe in stone. Last fall, after 2 years of careful attentions, weighted measures and controlled variations, I finalized the formula for what my palate considers to be the perfect pesto. Now with the disappearance of this integral component, I find myself struggling between buying pine nuts at the price of gold or going back to square one and developing another formulation using a readily available and more affordable ingredient.

On top of this, I've also heard from a reliable source that Padano parmesan cheese that I determined was the best type for my pesto is having quality issues that have also affected supply and pricing. It is currently priced above it's upper class sister Reggiano parmesan.

This must be a sign for me to make a new discovery...coming soon at a blog near you: "Playing With Nuts?" or should it be "You're going to love my nuts!!"

Ack! I digress.

Pictures to follow

Just wanted to let my 5 followers (btw, thanks guys!!) know that I will start adding and incorporating pictures to lighten up these "read-heavy" posts.

That said...stay tuned!

For now, "Deconstructed Pesto" for your visual enjoyment:

Ol' King Coleslaw

So simple. So good.

Coleslaw adds a zing to any meal. It's a great, "make in advance" dish that can be served as a side or directly in a sandwich. Made in advance it is even better to allow harsher flavours and tougher fibres to soften but even made fresh, it's good to go. I often use maple syrup to sweeten cold dishes because it blends in easily but It doesn't really change the flavour. If you use other types of sweeteners like sugar or honey but you may want to add it slowly and keep tasting it because they all have different intensities of sweetness.
Update (added July 4th, 2010): Although coleslaw has a terrific shelf life, I have reduced this recipe to a more manageable quantity.

½ Head of Cabbage julienned (white and/or red)

  (or ¼ + ¼ Regular with Nappa cabbage for softer texture)

1/3 Cup of Maple Syrup (use less if honey)

1/3 Cup of light coloured Vinegar

2 Teaspoon of Salt

3 Tablespoon Cup of Oil (olive, canola, grape seed...whatever ya got!)

 ½ Clove of finely minced Garlic

Toss and let sit to soften and blend.

P.S. Add 1/4 a cup of mayo to make a creamy slaw! 

3 to 1 - The Basic Rule of Vinaigrettes

A vinaigrette by definition is an oil and vinegar emulsion. Generally speaking the proportions are 3 to 1, oil to vinegar. The rest is up to you and what you have on hand.

Generally I use olive oil for or grapeseed depending whether I want the olive oil flavour or not. Walnut, hazelnut or other fancy nut oils can add subtle but lovely toastiness to your salad.

Vinegars come in all flavours and intensities but in the end they all work. For a light conservative vinaigrette, use apple cider, red or white wine, or malt vinegars. Fancy things up a bit with balsamic (white or black), sherry, or raspberry vinegars.

Mustard, either powder or jarred, have emulsifying properties so always add a touch of mustard to keep the mixture from separating. Wet mustard tends to affect the flavour more so if you don't want the taste of mustard to come through, add a bit of mustard powder to hold your emulsion.

A touch of sweetness balances all the flavours and softens both the saltiness and acidity so you may add maple syrup, brown sugar or anything sweet you may have kicking around (jams, marmalades and jellies add interesting nuances). If using powder (crystal) sugar, remember to add it to the vinegar before the oil to give it a chance to dissolve.

If you want to make dressing for the week, use dry aromatic ingredients (garlic powder) instead of fresh (fresh garlic) to avoid spoilage. But if you're just whipping up a batch for 1 salad, use fresh ingredients!
If you are looking for an Asian flair use rice wine vinegar and make 1 out of the 3 oil portions sesame oil, and add fresh grated ginger.

I may have lost you by now so I'll re-cap the basic formula so you can go eat salad now.

1) 3 to 1, Oil to vinegar ratio for base

2) Mustard to bind

3) Sugar to balance

4) Flavours (garlic, pepper, onion, etc...)

5) Salt to taste

Tip: to make a creamy dressing, make a half/half mixture with your vinaigrette and mayonnaise or sour cream.

Creamy Cucumber Dill Salad

When asked to bring a dish to a potluck or BBQ, more often than not people have asked for the cucumber dill salad. It has been a standard in my repertoire for years now and it is probably the recipe I am asked for the most when I serve it. It may seem a little complicated because of the "drawing water out of the cucumber" step, but I feel this is a worthwhile inconvenience that enhances the texture tremendously. It has a great shelf life if you even have any leftovers...

2 English Cucumbers or 10 Lebanese or 4 regular

(when using regular it's best to peel and seed them)

1/2 Cup of chopped Fresh Dill

1/3 Cup of Hellman's Mayonnaise

2/3 Cup of Sour Cream or Strained Yogurt

2 Teaspoons of light coloured vinegar (Not Balsamic)

1 Teaspoon of Maple Syrup

1/8 Teaspoon of Pureed garlic (powder or granules work too)

Salt (to water the cucumbers)

Slice the cucumbers into 1/4" or thinner slices. You don't need to slice them to thin since the water drawing process will further shrink it's thickness. Toss slices vigorously with a generous amount of salt (don't worry about over salting much of the salt will be discarded with the waste water). Allow to sit in refrigerator as long as you can (overnight is best but if you're in a rush, massage them by squeezing them in you hands before letting them rest). Drain off excess water and toss together with the rest of the ingredients.

Eat, drink, blog, woman

In case anyone is reading this...welcome.

I've kicked around the idea of writing a blog for years and signed up on sites several times but chickened out before my first posts. More and more I'm talking "at" people about food which can be unbearable for the listener that was only trying to maintain a conversation. More and more I worry about somebody asking me the simplest of food questions for fear of opening floodgates of uncontrollable blabber. People are polite. They don't generally tell me to shut up. But sometimes, when I'm particularly fired up about a subject, I can leave my body and look at myself rattling on while a poor listener is politely nodding and thinking to themselves "...I don't need the history of chicken processing, just how long to cook it...". I think blogging may help me control these urges to "talk someone's ear off" and also allow for people to choose and skim the information that is important to them.

I am by no means an expert, only a nerdy interested individual. If you are reading this "regularly", drop me a line and let me know how I'm doing.

So as I begin to log my journeys into food adventuring, enjoy the blog and "Bon Appetit!!"

Til Wednesday...

Sometimes you come across a special that you just need to shout from the mountain tops.

This week until June 16th Loblaws and Provigo (same store) is selling cherries for $2.77/lb. This is a great price for cherries, especially since they vary between $3.99 and $5.99 per pound around this time of the year.

I picked some up on Saturday and they were delicious: smooth, firm, juicy and sweet!!!

Another great deal is their President's Choice air-chilled whole chicken at $5 each (approx. 2.5-3 lbs.) It's important to buy air-chilled chicken. I've visited chicken processing plants and will never buy basin-chilled chicken again. More on this here (link to follow).

Don't dawdle, this sale will be gone by Thursday.

Of Spice and Blend

Spices and tastes are so subjective but I think that it's pretty rare to create a flavour that only appeals to ones self. This summer I have created what I consider a universal seasoned salt/spice blend that so far has worked wonders on chicken, pork, beef, lamb, mushrooms and even rice.

It's an aromatic blend that I whip up in my spice (coffee) grinder that can be used at almost any stage of cooking or eating. In fact, I was delighted by how well it worked on my toast with avocado slices at lunch today.

This recipe is enough to fill a regular size spice jar (10 Tablespoons):

4 Whole Cardamum seed pods

1 Tablespoon of Garlic granules/powder

1 Teaspoon of Onion granules/powder

2 Tablespoons Coriander seed

1/4 Teaspoon Cumin seed

1-2 dried Chilis (whichever you prefer and as spicy as you like)

2 Tablespoons of Paprika or Korean dried red pepper flakes (my preference)

2 Teaspoons of Salt

2 Teaspoons of Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Soup powder (I use Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon or Vegeta for a vegan version)

Be creative, substitute one spice for another...I would however suggest that you avoid vanilla and nutmeg, though...

As the old lady in the Frank's hot sauce commercial and Soulja Boy say: "I put that S$%# on everything!!" (Last time I ever reference SB...sorry)

Rub generously on pork belly, beer can chicken, grilled chicken legs/wings, lamb etc..

Salad days of summer...

For even to those who LOVE to cook, hot humid summer days can make it feel like a chore. With some minor preparation one can eat well and stay cool through the unavoidable heat waves of summer. Here are a couple salad tips that I depend on lazy summer days when the heat gets oppressive. Many salads are not only nutritious and tasty but can be kept for several days in the refrigerator which makes it even easier to be lazy. For example, legume and grain salads are perfect to provide essential proteins and complexe carbohydrates to one's diet and the best part is that once assembled their shelf life is quite astonishing.

I eat a lot of lentils and kamut when summer rolls around but other types of beans and grain are always cycling through to provide variety in taste and texture. Every week I will cook a cup of lentils and a cup of kamut and drain, cool and refrigerate. Keeping ready to use hearty vegetables (cabbage, spinach, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers...) around also help to avoid turning on the stove. Any beans, grains and veggies can be tossed together with any vinaigrette for an instant meal. Throw in some leftover chicken or duck and you can really fancy things up. Here are my thoughts on some of my favourite salad components.

Lentils: hands down, I prefer Dupuy (sometimes called French) or black caviar lentils over any other types for salad. Yellow, red, white and flat green lentils are great for soups but break down into a mush when cooking before you can even mix them into a salad. I never buy canned lentils because they are already soupy and lentils do not need soaking time and take very little time to cook from dry.

Beans: navy, kidney, black beans etc...do require soaking or a lengthy cooking period but the texture is significantly better for salads going from dry than canned. But in a pinch I'll use a can.

Grains: whole grains are great for their variety is endless. Quinoa, kamut, barley, millet, They come in all shapes and sizes and are an important part of a dishes textural landscape. I love kamut for it's chewy, almost crunchy snap. Quinoa is almost like caviar the way it pops lightly when chewed. Barley is chewy too but with a soft finish. All of these are terrific salad choices so remember to pair your ingredient's textures as well as flavours and colours.

Cabbage: until this spring cabbage and I were mere acquaintances. After spending some time with my sister-in-law, I learned the virtues that cabbage can bring to your health and especially your palate. Who knew that sautéing cabbage with salt and garlic could be so delicious...more about that here (link to follow). Coleslaw is a highly underrated dish. Because it has been paired to so many types of fast foods, the benefits and simplicity of this humble salad has all but been forgotten. Coleslaw is another one of those salads that not only keeps for days but also benefits from a "resting" period before serving. It's best to make a coleslaw a day in advance to allow all the ingredients to "marry" each other, to walk down the aisle (throat) in perfect harmony. Also, there are digestive and other health benefits that I will get into another time. Recipe here.

Cucumbers: if you draw most of the water out of a cucumber you can retain is crunchy snap and it will keep mixed with dressing for a few days without watering down. Simply toss cucumber slices with generous amount of salt and massage the slices a little to get them started. Then you can let time do it's work and let them sit in a strainer over a bowl for a couple hours or even overnight. These can be added with the legumes and grains or just tossed with a vinaigrette. For the recipe of my popular creamy cucumber dill salad, go here.

Latent memory

I recently realized that sometimes things that you eat do not affect you until days, week, even years down the road. My memory isn't generally the most reliable but if it's food related, it's probably stored in brain to be retrieved with the right trigger.

This happened recently which led me to re-discover a summer food experience that I encountered no less than 7 years ago: seasoned, fresh pork belly on the grill. I had the pleasure of being served this delicious concoction at my soon-to-be in-law's family home, not far outside of Montreal. Dear Uncle Jerry who subsequently lost his battle with cancer and left our world far too soon, was proudly serving them up from his giant grill in the backyard. It is an endearing memory of spending a lovely afternoon with the people who were soon to become my new family members.


Simple as can be but with the proper "accoutrements" a luxury sandwich fit for the gods. There is no real recipe per se but I'll share a couple tips that I have picked up while obsessively serving this sandwich to every meat-eating person I know. 
Update (added July 4th, 2010): I have served a vegetarian version of this sandwich switching the pork belly for portobello mushrooms using the same spice blend and drizzling olive oil on them before grilling)

Pork belly sliced ¼" thick:

It's bacon, people! Basically, it's fresh uncured, unsmoked, un-brined bacon...

You will probably need a butcher. I have personally never seen fresh pork belly in the supermarket so head to your friendly neighbourhood butcher. I recommend Chez Vito's, where the service and quality are unbeatable. If you are more DIY, alternately you can also find pork belly in the meat department of most Asian grocery stores. Butchers are nicer because they can slice it for you. I always grill it skin-on but it can get tough and hard in places so you may prefer to remove the skin.

DIY Tip: to cut it evenly, put the piece of pork belly in the freezer for an hour before slicing.

Seasoning:

When I was introduced to this "recipe" the hosts were using Lawry's Seasoned Salt. It's a fairly common savoury blend of salt, msg and spices. I make my own, which you can find the recipe for here. Other suitable seasonings are the A.Vogel Swiss Herb Salts widely available in Montreal supermarkets in regular or spicy mixes.

Bread:

I hate having the roof of my mouth shredded by sharp and hard bread crust. My favourite meal sandwich bread are the Vietnamese baguettes used in the awesome $2 Vietnamese submarines available throughout the city. Affordably available ($1.20 to $1.30 for 3) at all Kim Phat stores as well as other Asian markets throughout the city. They are crisp, soft and airy...supermarket submarine or panini buns are a suitable alternative.

Slaw: This is my personal addition to the sandwich that was not part of the original experience. A nice zingy coleslaw added to this sandwich seems to atone the sins of eating a slab of greasy, smoky, bacon in a white bun. Purchase your favourite slaw or make your own, here's how I make mine.

Assembly:

Generously sprinkle the slabs of pork belly with the seasoned salt. Throw on hot grill until nicely seared with dark grill lines (5 minutes per side). Put inside halved buns (mayo optional) with a generous amount of coleslaw. Prepare to have your mind blown.

Instructions: Eat it. (then write me and let me know how it changed your life.)