Beet and Whipped Goat Cheese Salad

This is a salad that has received rave reviews on the three occasions I’ve served it. Because I am a fairly lazy cook, I have taken some liberties with the original recipe. My apologies to its author.

Ingredients for the beet salad:

• a tin of baby beets, drained and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots or minced onion, if you don’t happen to have shallots
• at least 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of a rich sweet vinegar such as balsamic or sherry vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ cup shelled nuts like walnuts, pistachios or pecans
• 2 cups of small salad greens or a combination of salad greens mixed with fresh herb leaves, such as mint or Italian parsley

Ingredients for the cheese:

• ¼ cup (4 ounces) fresh goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon of rice or white wine vinegar (or more to taste)
• ½ teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon salt, or more to taste

Methods: 
Cut the beets into bite-sized pieces then place them in a bowl with the shallots, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Let the beets marinate for at least 30 minutes. Toast the nuts briefly, sprinkle them with salt if unsalted and chop them coarsely. Prepare the goat cheese by whisking/whipping the cheese with the olive oil, vinegar, cream, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, arrange the greens on a platter, then pile on the beets. Spoon any remaining dressing over the salad. Spoon on dollops of the whipped cheese and sprinkle with the nuts.

Sweet Potato and Corn Soup

This fresh-tasting soup was inspired by a chowder described by Lucy Waverman in her column in the Globe & Mail on August 22, 2015. The above photo shows an unadorned vegetarian version of the soup, which could be made much more impressive, and less vegetarian, with a healthy sprinkling of fried bits of bacon. Of note, this soup was actually better on Day 2, after the paprika had released all its smoky flavour.


Ingredients:

• 3 cobs of fresh corn, kernels removed with a sharp knife

• 1 onion diced

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• 1/4 cup butter

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

• 4 cups water

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 

• additional salt and pepper to taste

• 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)

Methods:

In a fairly large and heavy-bottomed pot, lightly sauté the diced onion in the butter and salt. Add the sweet potatoes and sauté lightly for several minutes before the addition of water to the pot along with the 3 cobs of corn from which you have removed the kernels. Simmer the vegetables until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a sharp knife. Remove the cobs from the pot and discard, then add the corn kernels and paprika. Simmer for several minutes longer in order to cook the corn, then remove the soup from the heat and use an immersible whizzer to blend it thoroughly. Add 1/4 cup heavy cream (or not), and place the soup back on the heat to re-warm. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Hold the cob upright in a bowl, and use a sharp knife to slice off the kernels. No fuss, no muss.




This looks odd, but simmering the 'nude' corn cobs along with the sweet potato adds flavour, and your friends will be impressed with your obviously very-sophisticated cooking technique.

Blue Cheese and Cheddar Nibbly-Bits

This recipe was adapted from Deb Perelman's recipe for Rosemary, Gruyere and Sea Salt Crisps found in her Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Perhaps I should say that this recipe was inspired by hers, since she might not absolutely approve of the following adaptation.

The major deviation in my recipe, aside from changing the type of cheese, omitting the rosemary, and doubling the quantities of ingredients, was the addition of water to the dough mixture. I suspect that if you followed Ms. Perelman's advice and used a food processor to cut the cheese and butter into the flour, the addition of water would be unnecessary, which is probably why she doesn't call for it in her recipe. Unfortunately, my old-timey kitchen doesn't contain a food processor.So maybe these nibbly-bits were not texturally perfect by Perelman's standards but like I always say, perfectionism impedes progress. In any event, you're likely going to be eating them while consuming alcohol and may be willing to overlook any possible imperfections.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of crumbled blue cheese

• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

• 8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick or 1/4 pound)

• 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour plus more for the counter

• 1/3 - 1/2 cup cold water

• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Methods:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.Mix the first four ingredients together using a pastry cutter until the butter has been cut into the flour, as if you were making pastry. Then add the water a bit at a time and stir with a fork until the crumbs hold together in dough form. Cut the dough in half and wrap each half in a square of wax paper. Chill for 15-20 minutes. On a floured surface, roll the dough to approximately 1/8 inch thickness. Cut the flattened dough into approximate 1-inch diamond shapes or squares. Dock each cracker with a skewer or knife point, then dab lightly with a bit of water. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Set the baking sheet on a rack to cool.

Here's my dough. It doesn't look bad here but just be aware that blue cheese can add a bit of a greyish hue to things.

Nectarine Crumble

There are a number of easy-to-make fruit desserts, which consist of baked fruit covered in various types of crumbs or batter. These go by the names of Brown Betties, grunts, cobblers, crumbles and crisps. They're all variations on a theme.

Because I had recently purchased some seemingly ripe, but actually rock-hard nectarines, I was inspired to design a recipe to both soften and sweeten them, that is, to bake them into submission.

Ingredients for fruit base:

• 7 nectarines sliced (no need to peel because they aren't creepily fuzzy-skinned like peaches)
• 1/2 cup plum jam (apricot jam should work just as well)
• 1 tablespoon flour
• pinch of salt

The nectarines, in a pretense of ripeness.

Ingredients for topping:

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• pinch of salt



The topping

Methods:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. After slicing the nectarines, combine the ingredients for the fruit base in a bowl then transfer to an ovenproof baking dish. Mix together the ingredients for the topping and place evenly over the fruit. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling at the edges of the baking dish and the crumbly topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla icecream.

Spicy Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli Rabe by Melissa Clark

This is another sheet pan dinner from the folks at the New York Times. I love these types of meals because they are so fantastically easy to make. Having said that, I'm not exactly sure that broccoli rabe is the best vegetable to team with shrimp.

Ingredients:

• ¾ pound broccoli rabe, tough bottom stems removed
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil, optional
• ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red chile flakes, or to taste
• ¾ pound large shrimp, peeled
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• Orange wedges, for serving
•  

• Methods:

• Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss the broccoli with 2 tablespoons olive oil, the sesame oil if using, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon chile flakes. In a separate bowl, combine the shrimp, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the orange zest, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/8 teaspoon chile flakes.

• Spread broccoli and shrimp in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast, tossing once or twice halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around the edges, about 10 minutes. Serve with orange wedges.

The Quintessentially Canadian Butter Tart

Our friend Craig is reputed to have stated recently that if he's ever diagnosed with a terminal illness, he is going to restrict his diet to butter tarts for the rest of his life. Craig is a good Canadian, and that's how Canadian a butter tart is. Look to Wikipedia for more detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_tart

Retro Bacon-Cracker Appetizers from the Pioneer Woman

For those with steel-lined gallbladders....

This very tasty recipe is taken directly from a successful American blog called 'The Pioneer Woman' by blogger Ree Drummond.

The finished product. You'll notice that the bacon sometimes torques the crackers during baking....this only adds to the appeal. (Cracker girdled by bacon sounds yummy to me). 

Ingredients:

• 1 package of flaky crackers (such as 'President's Choice Original Rich and Flaky Topping Crackers')


• 1 pound of thinly sliced bacon (or as much as you need depending on how many appetizers you're making)


• Grated Parmesan Cheese or Brown Sugar 

The name of these crackers is very explicit.

Methods:

Lay crackers face up on a cookie sheet. Place about 1 teaspoon of grated Parmesan cheese (or brown sugar) onto each cracker. Cut the bacon strips in half and wrap each cheese- (or sugar-) covered cracker in one half piece of bacon. It should fit snugly around the cracker. Place the bacon-wrapped crackers onto a baking sheet that has a metal rack on it, then place the sheet in a 250-degree oven for about 2 hours.

I decided to try both flavours....cheese and brown sugar.

After baking, these can be cooled and placed in a freezer bag (and subsequently frozen) for later use. They just need to be warmed slightly in the oven prior to serving. 

Wrapped and ready for the slow bake.

The amazing (and potentially attack-inducing) thing about these appetizers is just how much of the bacon fat is absorbed by the cracker. Ah well, it makes for easy clean-up of the baking sheet.