Meatless Monday and 'Kitchen Scraps' Giveaway Winner!

Before I divulge the winner of my Kitchen Scraps giveaway, let me first give you your Meatless Monday inspiration. (If you're visiting for the first time, you can read here about our forays into vegetarian cooking and how we got started.)

This week's recipe is over at Simple Bites, and is an old family favorite. Can you guess what it might be by the ingredients assembled in the photo above?

Head here the get the full story and a simple, seasonal meatless recipe.


Thank you to all who left comments on my interview with Pierre Lamielle!

In the end there can be only one winner, and that person is chosen by random.org.

So, the winner of the award-winning cookbook 'Kitchen Scraps' is...

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Gale Reeves!
Congratulations, Gale! You have been notified via email.

Thanks again to everyone for reading and entering the giveaway. Remember, even though you didn't win, you can still catch Pierre's work and recipes on his blog, Kitchen Scraps.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! I'm off to assemble a fondant-covered, three-tiered, vanilla-bean layer cake that is supposed to serve 80 people this afternoon at my nephew's baptism celebration. Tootles!

Meatless Monday: Asparagus & Tomato Pizza with Pesto

I feel oh-so-lame telling you to go elsewhere after you've been so kind to drop by Under the High Chair, but the staples of today's Meatless Monday recipe are a still a click away.

Last week was hot, dang hot. Fortunately, I was prepared, thanks to my post on Warm Weather Batch Cooking over at Simple Bites. Both pesto and pizza dough were stashed in the freezer, making Monday's meatless option pretty obvious.


Roll dough, slather with pesto, top with mozzarella, snap a few asparagus spears on top and finish with diced fresh tomato. Cook pizza on the barbecue to help keep the house cool, plus get that charred, crusty bottom on the pizza that is so, so good.

Serve on the shady back deck, with strawberry limeade made from the first local berries and the not-very-local limes. Toss your crusts to Mr & Mrs. Mallard who flew in half-way through dinner and stayed for dessert.


Head here for the pizza dough and pesto recipes. You probably won't want to miss the Strawberry-Limeade either.

Friends, I do believe summer has arrived.

WFD? Pizza Quattro Gusti (four flavors)

After months and months of putting up with my current refrigerator randomly freezing items out of spite, we've broken down and purchased a brand new one. For some of you this may not be such a big deal, but for us, it's our first official appliance purchase. Ever. Until now we've made do with family cast-offs and the generosity of former landlords and friends.

We try not to be big consumers; if something is broken or needs replacing, we don't run out and buy the item brand new. There's always someone around who wants to upgrade or is moving into a furnished place and generally, if we come and get the washer/stove/whatever, it's ours for the taking. So far this has worked in our favor...until this renegade fridge came along.

Too long I have endured solid yogurt, rock-hard berries, and frostbit greens. Too long have I spent extra money for fresh seafood--only to have it frozen in my refrigerator before I get a chance to cook it. I was due for a brand new appliance and that's what I got.

It arrives tomorrow.


Who knew that shopping for a fridge would open my eyes to all the possibilities that I never considered as options? Suddenly I needed a built in Britta drinking water system--how do I get by without one? And it sure would be handy to know the exact temperature of my fridge displayed digitally for me at all times. How about a beeper that goes off when the door is left ajar? I do that ALL the time, it drives Danny nuts.
Oh well, for now I'll just have to content my self with a fridge that 'just' keeps things cold--not frozen. Although if anyone hears of a second-hand version of this model looking for a good home, I've got dibs on it. I would love the glass door. That is the coolest.


So, I've been cleaning out my old fridge in preparation for the switch. I don't want a pile of items just sitting around on counters for extended periods of time while the new fridge is installed and starts cooling. (Apparently you can't plug it in for THREE HOURS after it arrives?? Help!)
As usual I have dozens of small leftover items that need finishing off to fully empty those drawers: half a stick of Chorizo, a teeny block of feta, a tired bundle of asparagus, a rind of Parmesan; those items and many more were the inspiration behind this pizza.

If you can call it inspiration. More like desperation.

I made a batch of Jamie Oliver's pizza dough, rolled it out onto a cookie sheet, divided it into four quadrants and proceeded to disguise my fridge odds and ends as pizza.


Guess what? It rocked! Everybody ate it--even the baby, who particularly loved the soft cross of crust that divided the pizza. Clockwise from top left the flavors are:

• Chorizo, Olive & Mozzarella
  
• Spinach, Egg, Fresh Garlic & Feta
• Bacon, Plum & Cheddar
• Asparagus, Cippolini Onion & Parmesan

I'm passing on the pizza dough recipe, because I like it a teeny bit better than my other one. It was softer and the bottom colored beautifully. I like a dark, crispy pizza underside. If you haven't gathered from this post, pretty much anything goes for toppings.

Pizza Dough
Adapted from Jamie at Home
this recipe will make 2 11x15 rectangle "Pizza Quattro Gusti". You can make one for dinner and freeze the other ball of dough for another night, or make tons and enjoy the leftovers.

7 cups white bread flour
1 Tablespoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons dry yeast
1 tablespoon raw sugar
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Sift the flour and salt onto a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a large measuring cup, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth springy dough.
Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands - this is called punching down the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straightaway, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas - this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas. (or two huge rectangles)
When you are ready to fire the pizzas, crank the oven up to 500F. Dust your work surface with a little flour, punched-down dough and divide in two. Roll out dough into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. Grease a cookie sheet generously with olive oil and spread out your pizza dough on it, using your finger tips to push it into the corners.
Trip a 1/8 inch strip off of one long and one short side of the rectangle and lay these in the shape of a cross in the middle of your pizza. Top with your four flavors of choice and place pizza in preheated oven. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is golden brown.
Enjoy!

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner: Summer Inspiration

Potato, Sage and Pancetta Gratin with Fresh Garlic

Consider this post my own little TasteSpotting.

I've got several dishes- from breakfast to dinner and dessert-that I have been wanting to post about for a while, but because of time constraints they will never boast their own individual posts. So here they are in picture form with a few recipes to boot.

Perhaps you can glean a little inspiration for your lunch today, or maybe you'll just scroll through and say "Had it. Had it. Made it. Over it." Whatever you choose to do is fine with me, what do I care? Hey, I'm off to do some cooking over an open fire, have tickle fights in the family tent, build some sand castles and enjoy getting back to nature without a battery operated toy for miles around.
Ta Ta!

Breakfast: Blueberry Baked French Toast

I haven't showcased many berry recipes yet this summer, but that doesn't mean we haven't been scarfing them down by the bucket fulls. We've enjoyed them many ways like Mango-Blueberry Lassies and Chocolate-Raspberry Ice Cream Sandwiches (recipe coming soon!) I loved this breakfast dish because it is made up the night before and all you have to do in the morning is bake it off and whip some cream. Don't leave your mixer beating the cream and go check your email, like I did, or your whipped cream will more resemble butter than a creamy topping. Tisk-Tisk.

Baked Blueberry French Toast
Adapted from Fabulous Fairholme: Breakfasts & Brunches Serves 2

4 slices day old Italian bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup fresh blueberries (or raspberries)
2 oz cream cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons maple syrup

The night before: Grease two 8 oz ramekins. Line bottom half with bread cubes. Cover with blueberries and cream cheese cubes and top with remaining bread. Mix eggs, milk and syrup together and pour over bread. Cover and let soak overnight in refrigerator.

In the morning: Preheat oven to 350F. (Make your coffee and wake yourself up) Bake for 25-30 minutes or until puffy and golden. Remove from ramekins and serve with your topping of choice and plenty more of that coffee.

Lunch: Smoked salmon and fixings

If you are lucky enough to get to one of Montreal's fine bagel shops, those bagels are all you really need to enjoy your smoked salmon and cream cheese, but all the other fixings are pretty sweet to spoil yourself and your surprise lunch guests with, too.

Lunch Side Dish: Tempura Zucchini Blossoms

I know, I know, I couldn't let these beauties from my own garden go to waste, so I overcame my fear of ingesting bugs and slugs (happened to me IN a restaurant), gave the blossoms a good clean and was so happy I did. They were amazing, as was the sherry mayo I made to go with them. Heavenly.

Dinner Appetizer: Slow Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

Everyone's favorite snack, these ones are my Aunt Jenny's specialty: crusty rounds of baguette, oven-roasted, über-ripe sliced tomatoes, sprinkled with fresh herbs and drizzled with olive oil and salt. Serve warm and make lots.

Appy Number Two: Pancetta-Wrapped Grilled Asparagus

For the bacon-lovers in your family. Toss asparagus in olive oil and season, then wrap with panchetta. Group into rows of about 5 spears each and run a skewer through them to bunch together for easier grilling. Grill over a low flame and serve warm.

Dinner: Grilled Lamb Chops with Salmoriglio, Young Courgettes and Purple Carrots

Thanks to copious amounts of oregano in my garden, Salmoriglio is a fresh herb sauce I whip up all the time to accompany grilled meats, especially lamb. These chops benefited from an overnight marinade of olive oil, tons of oregano, a touch of rosemary, some lemon zest and plenty of black pepper. The vegetables are picked from my little kitchen garden.


Salmoriglio Oregano Sauce

Recipe comes from the fabulous River Cafe Cookbook

4 level tablespoons fresh oregano
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
8 tablespoons olive oil
fresh pepper

In a mortar and pestle pound the herb leaves and salt until completely crushed. Add the lemon juice. Pour the oil slowly into the mixture. Add a little pepper. Drizzle over grilled meats such as lamb or beef.
Variation: Marjoram, thyme or lemon-thyme can be substituted for oregano.

Dinner Side Dish: New Potato, Sage and Pancetta Gratin with Young Garlic

I'm enjoying immensely the crop of garlic I planted last fall. If you've never tried growing garlic, you are missing out on one of the easiest and rewarding gardening experiences to be had. I forget exactly which month I planted the little cloves (guessing late October) but they were the first thing to poke up out of the ground this spring and now there are hardly any left because I can't stop pulling them up and adding them to everything! You can see the tight, juicy bulb sliced in half in the photo above. It's hard to buy garlic this fresh.

OK, this potato dish really deserves it's own post, but lucky you are getting it now.
Seriously, don't you feel like this post is a virtual Christmas stocking of great recipe ideas?? And there's still more to come!

Every once in a while I come across a potato recipe that stops me in my tracks--the last one being Tartiflette--and this dish is a favorite in my repertoire. I've been making it for ages and meaning to share it...but you know how it goes, it usually gets gobbled up before I can snap a photo.
Oh, and would you believe it? This recipe is also from the River Cafe Cookbook. If you don't own it already, put it on your Christmas List. The garlic and fresh sage is from my garden, the potatoes are not as I am patiently waiting for the plants to flower before I drop on all fours and furrow into the earth to collect my bounty.

Potato and Pancetta Gratin
The recipe suggests Roseval or similar yellow waxy potatoes, but I have made it with pretty much every kind of potato. Of course, new potatoes are ideal.
Serves 6

100g pancetta, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
20 sage leaves
850 g Roseval potatoes
225 ml double cream
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Parmesan, freshly grated

Preheat oven to 375F. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the pancetta over a medium heat. Stir in the garlic, add the sage, cook for a minute and remove from heat. Slice each potato lengthwise (or in 1/2 inch wedges if you are using large potatoes). Place in a large bowl and add the pancetta and oil mixture and the cream. Season with salt and pepper and toss together. Put in a baking dish, making sure that the potato, pancetta and sage are evenly distributed, cover with foil and cook in the oven for 40 minutes.

About 20 minutes before the end of cooking, remove the foil so that the surface of the potatoes become brown. Add a little Parmesan 5 minutes before the end. Enjoy!

Dessert:Vanilla-Bean Panacotta with Quebec Strawberries

We haven't been eating a lot of sweets around here (shocking, I know) but I am showcasing two of my favorite summer desserts from previous posts.
Picking a favorite recipe is like asking which of your children you love more, but these two recipes sprang to mind when I was thinking about fresh summer flavors in desserts. The best part is that they are both minimal effort as well as gorgeous!

So the first dessert is this pretty panacotta with strawberry coulis and fresh strawberries. In the original post I didn't gush overly about my love of panacotta, but it's a love affair that hasn't wavered in many, many years. Originally created by the pastry chefs at Restaurant Toque! many years ago, this cute cone-shaped panacotta was my dinner party dessert of choice for some time. The tops bow and jiggle when you bring them to the table in a comical and inviting way. So cute! Of course any fresh berries would be lovely with this dish and I remember a cherry compote I once made that was a hit, too.

Dessert Number 2: Rustic Peach Galette

It is nice to have options and here is the second dessert that sums up the lazy days of summer. I created this peach galette to round out a fabulous dessert table for a party my siblings and I threw for my parents last summer. (Read all about it, see the sweet table and get the galette recipe) This rustic dessert was up against some big names in dessert show-biz like Dark Chocolate and Wild Strawberry Cupcakes and Citrus and Cointreau Cheesecake, but at the end of the evening was declared the favorite by many.
Of course, the accompanying whipped cream was in perfect peaks, so that helped!

So there you have it. Now go get cooking and if your tummy isn't rumbling yet, you need help!

WFD? Asparagus Gruyère Tart for Spring

I keep a small pad of paper on the nightstand next to my bed for those occasional nights where my body is exhausted, but my mind can't seem to shut down.
Often some of my best menu ideas come as I am tossing and turning and so I jot them down for future reference in my notebook.

"What are you writing?" My husband will ask, knowing full well the answer.

"Oh, just a little menu planning" I'll say,
"How does this sound?"

and I'll rattle off to him a well-rounded cocktail menu for that upcoming wedding shower I am helping out with or list a trio of desserts I want to make for that weekends' pot-luck with friends.

I realize this makes me sound really food-crazy, so I will reiterate that I occasionally menu-plan in bed and only when something genius comes to me and I don't want to forget it in the morning.

This asparagus and gruyère tart was jotted down in the notebook, underlined a few times, with the note next to it:

"A must-try for spring. Ideal for an elegant outdoor meal."

After making it this week, I would have to say it is ideal for several reasons.
First of all, it is ridiculously easy to make: if you can roll pastry and grate cheese, you can make this tart.
Secondly, it's mighty tasty: what's not to love about flaky pastry, a good strong cheese and toothsome spring asparagus?
Thirdly, look how pretty it is!


You'll find the original recipe here with a how-to video that I fell asleep while watching.

Asparagus Gruyère Tart

Flour, for work surface
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
5 1/2 ounces (2 cups) Gruyère cheese, shredded
1 1/2 pounds medium or thick asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle. Using a fork, pierce dough inside the markings at 1/2-inch intervals. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Remove pastry shell from oven, and sprinkle with Gruyère. Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over Gruyère, alternating ends and tips. Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20 to 25 minutes

WFD? Shrimp and Asparagus Summer Rolls with Avocado Puree

Last weekend the air was filled with the sounds of revving engines as it was Grand Prix weekend and all the Formula 1 cars were blowing smoke around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Even though we live a good 20 kilometers from the racetrack, I can hear the cars from my own backyard. As Noah and I got dirty in the garden under the warm sun, I tried to think of another sound that signaled the start of summer in Montreal, but the F1 cars seemed pretty significant.
Every year around here we ask each other "It's Grand Prix all ready??" as if we can't believe the spring rains are finally over and the summer is here for a while.
For those hot days where you don't want to turn the oven on or even stand over a barbeque, there are spring rolls- or summer rolls as some of us call them. (I've even been known to call them 'clean-out-the-fridge-rolls' when they end up being way to use up scrap vegetables). They are refreshing, enjoyable to make and usually disappear as fast as I can roll them around here!

Quebec asparagus is cheaper than many other green veggies right now and I had a fat bunch sitting in my fridge. I found some frozen shrimp I had forgotten about, pinched a mango from Noah's stash of fruit, and the filling for these rolls just came together.
If you've always had spring rolls just with peanut sauce, you must try this avocado puree for something different. It's rich and feels almost decadent, but is simple to make. Make sure the avocado flesh is void of any brown parts.

Summer Rolls

12 medium shrimp, (about 6 ounces), peeled and deveined
3 ounces rice vermicelli
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Salt to taste
16 round 8-inch rice-paper wrappers
1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh basil leaves, preferably Thai,
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves,
1 mango, peeled, seeded, and julienned
Juice of 1 lime
6 ounces (about 16 spears) pencil asparagus, blanched and trimmed to about 4 inches
micro chives, for garnish

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Add shrimp; cook until pink and cooked through, about 2 minutes. Slice cooked shrimp in half lengthwise. Cool, then toss with lime juice and a few pinches of salt. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cover rice vermicelli with hot water by 2 inches; let soak for 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Toss with basil, cilantro, rice vinegar and sesame oil. Set aside.
3. Have all ingredients ready for rolling the spring rolls: carrot, mango, seasoned rice noodles, shrimp, asparagus and mint leaves.
4. Fill a dish or your kitchen sink with warm water. Working with 1 rice-paper wrapper at a time, soak in water for 30 seconds; immediately lay flat on a damp towel. Smooth to remove wrinkles, than fold up the bottom quarter toward the top. Working with your hands, place about two tablespoons of the rice noodles on the folded up part of the wrapper. Place a few asparagus spears, carrot, mango and shrimp on top of the noodles. Add a mint leaf slightly above the rest of the filling.
5. Fold sides of the wrapper in toward the middle and roll the summer roll up, keeping the filling tightly pressed together. Tuck a few mini chives in to the side before you roll it all the way. Place roll on a plate and cover with a damp towel
6. Repeat with remaining rice-paper sheets and filling. Chill summer rolls until ready to serve. Slice summer rolls in half to show the vibrant colors inside and serve with avocado puree or peanut sauce.
   

Avocado Puree

1 ripe avocado
2 Tablespoons whole milk
salt to taste

Divide avocado in half and remove seed. With a spoon, scoop out flesh in to a glass measuring cup. Add milk and using a hand held blender, blend until smooth. Try to keep the blades submerged at all times so as to incorporate as little air as possible. Season with salt, cover top with plastic wrap and refrigerate until used. May keep up to six hours before starting to discolor.