Here is a recipe that I have been using for many Christmases. It comes from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. This book was given to my husband, Dana and I, when we went to Morocco with the US Peace Corps in 1970. So, it’s a well tried recipe and people love it. Simple but scrumptious!

Ingredients for about 36 cookies

These are the chewiest gingersnaps you’ll ever have! The secret ingredient is the vineger

This recipe is from a book called “Prange Family Recipes” put together for the 60th wedding anniversary of John and Catherine Prange, August 1st, 2012, by their children and grandchildren. This recipe is from Amanda and Justin Berry. Our dear Sarah Berry is also one of the grandchildren

I can’t say I am crazy about  kale — but I know that it  is a nutritional super star  (full of Vitamin A , C and K and other good things)  so I was so happy to discover a kale recipe that is also delicious.

Myokyo,  the abbess of Enpuku-ji,  served me this salad as a light meal before we ventured off to experience Cité Memoire, a multimedia project in Old Montreal celebrating Montreal’s 375th anniversary.   An evening of treats for the senses.

The recipe, created  by Anna Jones, appeared in the NY Times.

Cette recette provient d’un vieux livre de cuisine végétarienne dans lequel ma fille, Elza, puise des recettes depuis des années. En fait, nous ne nous rappelons pas comment ce livre a atterri dans sa cuisine. Elle pense que je lui ai donné (après l’avoir sans doute trouvé dans une librairie d’occasion à Montréal), et quant à moi, je suis persuadée qu’elle l’a trouvé sur un trottoir de Montréal, son lieu favori de découvertes. Quelle que soit son origine, il regorge d’excellentes recettes végétariennes  et celle qui est reproduite ci-dessous est une des favorites d’Elza car elle ADORE les champignons sous toutes leurs formes. Le titre français du livre est “Sans Viande. Une façon différente de se nourrir” de Karen Brooks. Il a été publié à l’origine aux États-Unis en 1974, sous le titre suivant: “The Forget About Meat Cookbook”.  Nous espérons que vous aimerez ce plat divin de champignons autant que nous! ]]> https://foodtalks.recaa.ca/plat-divin-de-champignon/feed/ 0 https://foodtalks.recaa.ca/coconut-bacon/ https://foodtalks.recaa.ca/coconut-bacon/#respond Thu, 17 Nov 2016 17:37:43 +0000 https://foodtalks.recaa.ca/?p=488 ... Read more »]]>

Although I used to love meat, I don’t miss it, generally speaking. What I do miss is that satisfying sensation so hard to achieve with a careless vegetarian diet. Here is where the coconut bacon enters in scene: coconut bacon is able to transform a discrete salad into a proper lunch, a boring soup into a main dish.

How so? Coconut bacon owes its wonder to liquid smoke. This dubious ingredient is actually made of smoke. A quick look at the ingredients should reflect this. Keep your distance from anything besides smoke and water.

I use coconut bacon quite freely, but spinach, soups and sandwiches love it.

sumac spice

Once when I was visiting  a Chilean-Syrian family in Ottawa,  I noticed my friend Fuxy putting a dark reddish spice into the salad dressing.  It was sumac, or as the famous chef Ottollenghi calls it, “magic dust”, and gave her salad a zingy citrusy flavour.  Fuxy gave me some to take home and I’ve been experimenting with it ever since — not only in salads, but also to make za’atar, with fish, chicken and lamb, and I sprinkle it on hummus instead of paprika, and on baba ganoush.

If you like the tartness of lemon, lime or hibiscus, I’m sure you’ll like sumac.  And it’s not only delicious but is an antioxidant and can “ boost immunity and slow the aging process“.  You can find the ground sumac spice in Middle Eastern grocery stores.

But what about all that sumac we see in Quebec? I did some research on-line and discovered that staghorn sumac, which always catches my attention in the fall because of its wonderful coloured leaves, is an edible variety.  (There is also poisonous sumac here but with its white berries, it is easy to distinguish.)

Staghorn sumac in October

Then I noticed that Lufa, which delivers a weekly basket of local fruits and vegetables, listed sumac under “Fresh Herbs & Spices”.  I ordered a cluster to grind so that I can find out what local sumac tastes like.

If you want to buy the Middle Eastern variety, I know that it’s available at  Marché Lobo, 3509 du Parc, for $4.99 lb.  A quarter of a pound  is plenty to start with.

Please tell us where you find it and  how you used it.   If you’re trying it for the first time,  let us know whether you liked the  taste of this “magic dust”.

Sumac cluster

Cooking was a new enterprise for me when I immigrated to Canada from India.  After burning a number of pots and the contents, survival dictating to the taste buds, edible dishes began to be conjured.  However, I never aspired to flaky, tender pie crusts as these were totally unfamiliar to me.  At the time, we were treated to free monthly issues of the “Homemakers” magazine.  And I made a discovery, Crustless Coconut Pie.

Whenever I made this when entertaining or as a pot luck offering, it was thoroughly enjoyed.  However, I found that it did not rise much, resembling a rather puffy pancake.  I began adjusting measurements, increasing the flour and baking powder, cautiously.

My sister and I were in her Toronto kitchen preparing this pie.  She had newly arrived in Canada and loved the pie as well.  Instead of the half cup that was now in my recipe, she thought it was a cup of flour.  The pie rose perfectly but the texture changed from custardy to firm.

From then, with more adjustments, increasing the flour and baking powder, caution thrown to the winds, the pie was transformed into a cake.  I have not worked with freshly grated coconut as yet, using the easily available dessicated coconut instead.  But maybe one day.  Possibilities are endless.