Curried Potato Kale Galette

I had lots of potatoes and kale left over and wanted to do something different than soup to use them up.  I found this great recipe for a galette.  I had tried making a galette years ago, but it hadn’t turned out well so didn’t try again.  This recipe is very tasty because you add a bit of curry seasoning to the kale.  Admittedly, I did overcook it a bit but the taste was fine even if some of the potatoes that were on top got a bit dried out.  I was concerned about not cooking the potatoes enough

Norwegian sweet and sour cabbage or Surkål

I had a green cabbage sitting in my fridge, leftover from a recent food bag delivery, and couldn’t come up with anything interesting to make. My Norwegian husband was getting over a cold and was craving comfort food, so I decided to make surkål for him. Literally translated it means sour cabbage, but it has a sweet and sour taste to it given the combination of sugar and vinegar. It is always a challenge attempting something that has normally been made by your spouse’s

Stop food waste (part two): 8 ways to use your root vegetables

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN estimates that 30% of food produced ends up as waste. And the further food travels, the more waste. Personally my goal is not to waste any of my food bag and so far, so good! Okay, a few radishes may have ended up in the organic waste. I tried to find ways to use them but I really don’t like them.

Getting ready for Spring: Using up the last of the potatoes and onions for soup

The sun is shining and my allergies are starting which must mean that Spring is on the way. I am looking forward to fresh greens in my weekly food / CSA bag and a greater variety of vegetables. So in preparation, I have been trying to clean out the food cupboards and this week aimed at using up the potatoes and onions that I have been stockpiling. I found a recipe for Potato and Onion Soup and was initially worried that it would be boring. Obviously, the flavours are going to be subtle, but I thought this one was quite tasty. I served my soup hot so it is still called potato and onion soup (I could also have used leeks but didn’t have), but if I had served it cold it would be vichyssoise. That certainly sounds fancier, but

Cider glazed sausages with butternut mash – perfect cure for winter

With the seemingly endless winter, a lot of my cooking over the past few months has been favouring warm, comfort foods that stick to your ribs. Today’s dish is no exception as I found a recipe that plays on the classic sausages and mashed potatoes which is something my husband, in particular, always loves. A recipe on Martha Stewart’s website caught my eye, so I decided to try Cider Glazed Sausages with Butternut Mash.  The apple cider glaze seemed like a great addition

Turning turnips into comfort food

I seem to start a number of my posts on cooking with root vegetables with “I’ve never been a big fan of …”.  Turnips, I’m afraid, are no exception.  While I have been pleasantly surprised with the results of cooking with beets and cabbage, I wasn’t quite ready to let turnips take centre stage on the plate.  And I know I am not alone.  At a farmers market I visited recently, I overhead two people talking about the same thing.  Both agreed that they didn’t like the bitterness of turnips.  Since turnips were included in my Food Bag, I had no choice

Cooking beets and liking them!

Despite the fact that beet appears in the title of this blog, I have never been a big fan of them.  I believe that so much of what we think of vegetables is formed when we are kids.  For me, beets were usually part of a marinated salad and I usually found the vinegar overpowering.  But that was the type of beet salad that my Dad liked and he would always finish it.   I also used to despise asparagus because it was canned and for me, mushy.  It is not that my parents were really crazy about canned asparagus either,

Want to eat local without having to cook? Try a restaurant focused on local food.

My recent dedication to sourcing and cooking local vegetables has been a great learning experience and has expanded my cooking repertoire, but some days I don’t feel like cooking and don’t want the dish pan hands from cleaning up.  So I used my husband’s birthday as the perfect excuse to check out a new (for me) restaurant that supports locally sourced food.  I should add the caveat that locally sourced does not mean exclusively local, but rather an emphasis is placed on local.

After reading a number of reviews, I decided to try out Ruby Watchco. on Queen Street East near Broadview.  The concept was interesting with just one set menu