Connecting Albert County - Recipes

Cheesed Off Eggs & Toast

1/1/2022

From the kitchen of Jim Kitts

Have you, like me, been putting the cheese in the fridge without one of those nifty beeswax wraps to cover the cut end, and then finding the end of your cheese is all dried out? Rather than repent and change our ways, let's find a recipe to cope with our sins and pretend we meant to dry out the cheese all along. This is another fast recipe: you can make it in the time it takes for toast to pop out of the toaster.

We need just a bit of special fry pan technology to make this easy. I have somebody’s new ceramic frypan that I promised never to put on high, but you could use a good condition Teflon pan, the type that tears a big hole in the Ozone Layer. But for a real ‘scorcher,’ switch to a good old black cast iron frying pan and use a real man’s steel spatula.

Ingredients (to serve two)
4 farm-fresh eggs
4 slices of bread (e.g., from Oliver’s German Bakery, Hearth & Hive or other local bakers)
Butter
salt and pepper to your preference
2-4 slices of semi-dry cheddar cheese, crumbled

Directions
Put the pan on medium, with a gob of butter to slurry around… when the butter is a few moments past melting, put the toast down. (I mean start up the toaster, not verbally abuse it.)

Crack four eggs into the pan, proceeding as normal for cooking eggs over easy with salt and pepper.

Thinly pare off a few strips of semi-dry cheese, crumble that around those farm-fresh yolks looking back up at you. I like to make little cheese eyelashes to pretend I have company. Just before flipping the eggs, put a small nib of butter on each yolk.

Flip the eggs so they are cheese-side down, turn down the heat and butter your toast. In a few moments, flip the eggs cheese-side up on a plate beside, or on the toast, and you're done.

For a little added risk: when the cheese is frying under the egg, turn up the heat, scorch the cheese (which improves its flavour, but you may have to scrape it off the pan with a bit of extra energy, and there will be more scrubbing needed at wash-up time…something to consider if you can pawn off the clean-up on your partner).

Fast Fish Soup

24/11/2021

Ingredients
1 can Mega Sardines in tomato sauce (costs about a dollar)
1 handful leftover cooked stir-fried vegetables
1 cup leftover cooked rice (optional)
1 pat butter
Pepper and perhaps a tiny dash of salt
3 or 4 cups of water

Directions (short form): Mix. Heat. Serve. Enjoy

Out on the prowl, panning for Albert County gold above Rat Tail Falls, you find yourself low in utensils, in need of better than usual nutrition for under a buck a serving. Fortunately, in the bottom of your pack, you find a new sardine brand from the foreign foods aisle, ‘Mega Sardines in Tomato Sauce,’ that you haven’t been desperate enough to face yet. Your starved and wavering vegetarian partner has a handful of leftover stir-fried vegetables, a bit of cooked rice, a match, and is hiding a pat of butter in another pocket. (Old prospector tip: vegetarians run lean and always have secret stores.)
After negotiations to share resources, scour the gold pan in wet, clean gravel (because in the past, somebody has likely used mercury in it to make gold amalgam).
Pop the pull tab off the sardine can and invert the contents onto the bottom of the gold pan. The Mega can is narrow and tall (like a tomato paste can). Use the can to slice up the fish, bones, skin and unmentionable bits into the accompanying tomato sauce to get a chunky red fish paste.
Tip about three cups of water into the pan, add the vegetables and the butter. Using the sharp edge of the can, chop and stir everything into a thin soup. Add pepper if your vegetarian has some hidden, but be careful of the salt, add that last to taste.
Bring the pan just to simmer over a gentle twig fire, looking to see a lovely, light rose-coloured froth collect on the surface.
Serve into your King Cole tea cups.

From the kitchen of Jim Kitts

Baked Beans

24/11/2021

Ingredients
1 lb. dry baking beans
1 tsp. dry or prepared mustard
6 tbsp. brown sugar (or 3 tbsp. brown sugar plus 3 tbsp. maple syrup or molasses)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried onion or 1 small chopped onion
1 tsp dried garlic or 1 fresh clove
2 tsp dried herbs of choice (I use oregano and summer savory)
1 cup crushed or bottled tomatoes (with no sugar added)
1 grated carrot
*Optional - 1 pork chop or 3 strips bacon

Directions
Rinse and pick over beans to remove any debris. In a 3-quart saucepan, soak beans for 6 hours in 2 quarts of water with 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt.
Drain and rinse soaked beans.
Preheat oven to 300F.
In a bean crock or baking dish, put your pork chop or bacon in first, then add beans and all other ingredients.
Bake for 2-3 hours at 300F, until the beans are the desired softness. Check beans periodically; if they become dry, add a small amount of water.

Don’t worry about which type of beans to use. Normally a recipe would call for a variety like Jacob’s Cattle bean or Kidney bean, but it really doesn’t matter. Mix types if you like, or just use whatever you have on hand. In the recipe below, you can opt to add meat for flavour, but it is not necessary.

From the kitchen of Angela MacDougall

Squash Flowers with Peanut Sauce

25/9/2021

Late in the season it seems good practice to dock the extra squash blossoms that sap energy from your winter ‘keepers.’ Let’s cook them up and make a meal, because if I go to the garden and don’t come back with something for dinner, what’s the point?

You can cook the whole squash flower without washing, but we know bees have been tracking in there without wiping their six little feet. Instead, just pinch off the blossom, nip off the bristly flower bits on the bottom (where it attaches to the squash), tear away most of the petal and look inside. Any bugs or garden soil will show up well against the yellow inside of the blossom. I’m not fond of insect protein, so I tear closed blossoms in half to take a peek.

Ingredients

2 cups squash flowers
1 stunted squash
1 tomato
Tabasco sauce
Parmesan cheese
olive oil
soya sauce
ginger sauce
salt and pepper
peanut butter

Directions

Collect flowery bits, and nab a tomato and a few too-small-to-bother- with squash on your way to the kitchen.

For stunted small squash, chop off the pesky ends, peel the skin and look at the middle. If the seeds are small, slice and chop everything into cubes. If the seeds look large and bothersome, quarter the vegetable lengthwise and slice away the seeds. When everything is all peeled and cubed, start cooking squash, later add the flower mixture and finally make the peanut sauce.

In a bowl, add the chopped tomato and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce to “edge things up.” Lightly salt and pepper, and stir. Add flowers on top and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Stir everything and pop in the microwave on high for a minute.

Set a frypan to high heat. (I use cast iron because I destroy anything else due to stove knob dyslexia.) Add more olive oil than you might expect and tip the pan to let oil run all over and around the edge. Let the pan heat for a few moments. The oil’s flow should change into a slight rope-like pattern to show it is hot but not smoking. Add the squash and stir with a spatula, then turn the heat down. Shake a tablespoon or two of soy sauce in the pan and let it steam up. Add a tablespoon of ginger sauce. Salt and pepper lightly. Stir everything around again and turn the heat back up.

Add the sullen-looking flower and tomato mixture from the microwave into the pan and stir. Cover the pan to let it steam and turn the heat down. In a couple minutes, taste one of your bigger squash cubes to see if it is softening. If you need to add moisture, do it sparingly.

When you guess that the squash is mostly cooked, follow closely the onerous instructions on making my exclusive Jimbo peanut sauce: Open the peanut butter jar, knife two big gobs of peanut butter on top of the cooking vegetables and stir until it all disappears.

Serve in bowls. There is a lot of fibre and goodness in this meal, including protein in the peanut butter... even if we don’t eat the insects (which would be cruel, despite the obvious additional nutritional benefits).

From the kitchen of Jim Kitts

No Mayo Lobster Potato Salad

25/9/2021

Ingredients

Salad:
2 lbs peeled potatoes cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, deseeded and finely sliced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup celery, finely diced

Greek Yoghurt Dressing:
1 cup Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup fresh cut chives
1 tsp sea salt
Cracked pepper to taste

1 -2 boiled lobsters

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes, bring the water back to a boil and cook the potatoes for about 5-6 minutes or until fork-tender.

Meanwhile, chop the veggies and make the dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Drain the potatoes then place in a large bowl. While potatoes are still warm, pour the dressing and very gently toss to coat all the potatoes. Set aside to cool.

Once the potatoes have cooled, add the celery, cucumber and red onion.

Roughly cut up cooled, shelled lobster into chunks and add to the bowl. Toss gently and combine.

Cover and set aside in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavours develop. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste, add fresh herbs like dill or parsley.

From the kitchen of Angela MacDougall
Article: It’s Lobster Season in Albert County!

Creamy Lemon Pasta with Poached Lobster

25/9/2021

Serves 2 people.
Prep time: 15 minutes. Cooking time: 25 minutes, if lobster is live; 10 minutes if lobster is cooked

Ingredients:

For cooking lobster
2 cups dry white wine (or water)
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 lobster tails

For the pasta
10 oz (285 g) fettuccine (about 2/3 of a 1-lb/454-gram box)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium shallot, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream or coconut cream
2 tbsp butter
zest of 1 lemon, plus more for serving
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt to taste
freshly cracked pepper to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon
fresh basil leaves for serving (optional)
lemon wedges for garnish

Directions:

Poaching lobster: Add wine and thyme to a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add lobster tails and reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer for 5-6 minutes or until the tails turn red and curl up. Remove from saucepan. Let cool, chop into chunks and set aside.

Pasta: Bring a large pot of water to boil and season with salt. Cook until the pasta is al dente (or just a bit harder than your preferred texture). Keep 1/4 to 1/3 cup of pasta water before you drain the pasta.

Sauce: Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant and until you are seeing some caramelization.

Add cream, raise heat slightly and bring to a slow simmer. (Do not overheat the cream or bring to boil.) Once cream is bubbling, reduce heat and add butter, lemon zest, Parmesan and salt. Stir until butter and Parmesan are melted and mixture is smooth and creamy. Start adding 1/4 cup of the pasta water and lemon juice; stir to combine.

Add chopped lobster to the sauce. Heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add pasta and toss until sauce coats the pasta. You can add a splash of pasta water until the sauce coats the pasta to your liking.

Put into bowls. Garnish with fresh basil leaves, lemon zest, fresh pepper and lemon wedges. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

From the kitchen of Rosalind Miller
Article: It’s Lobster Season in Albert County!

Classic Broiled Lobster Tails

25/9/2021

This is a fantastic choice for a main course protein served alongside some brightly coloured sautéed vegetables. It would also make a nice appetizer or topping for a salad or pasta dish.

Cutting the tails before cooking (optional)

A simple cut down the top of the shell is all you need to peel back the tail for a beautiful presentation; cut it down the middle for a butterflied tail.

Use sharp kitchen scissors or a sharp knife to cut the shell, and make a clean cut so you don’t get any of the shell on the tail meat. Cutting the shell open before cooking will reduce the cooking time and make it easier to judge when the lobster tail has fully cooked, as well as give a chance for the lobster meat to soak up the deliciously rich flavour from the butter.

Broiling

Brush the top of the lobster tail with melted butter and sprinkle with paprika and pepper before broiling. The butter and paprika creates a lovely golden red hue.

Place lobster tails on a baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven, underneath a broil-er. Do not place directly under the broiler: this may cause the lobster to burn on top while remaining raw in the middle.

Cooking time is about 10 minutes. This will vary depending on the size of the tails, your oven, and whether you preheat the broiler before putting lobster tails in the oven. If you have a very large lobster tail, it will take a bit longer. Small tails should be perfect after 10 minutes, or 2 minutes + 1 minute per ounce.

When is a lobster tail cooked?

A lobster tail is fully cooked when the flesh turns opaque (white) and the shell turns bright red. At this time, the meat has reduced slightly and become firmer. To ensure your lobster tail is perfectly cooked, insert a digital meat thermometer into the fattest part of the lobster tail (but keep the thermometer away from the shell). The internal temperature of fully cooked lobster is 140-145F.

If the flesh looks grey, it's not cooked. Avoid overcooking. Overcooked lobster results in tough, gummy meat and a fishier flavour.

From the kitchen of Angela MacDougall
Article: It’s Lobster Season in Albert County!

Shak Handvo (Baked Vegetable Cake)

23/8/2021

Handvo is a traditional Gujarati savoury cake made with rice, lentils and lots of vegetables, such as bottle gourds, fenugreek leaves and carrots. It is spiced with fresh ginger and green chilies, tempered with mustard seeds, sesame seeds, and dried red chilies. This wholesome dish can be enjoyed as a meal by itself or with a side of pickles or chutney. "

There are many different combinations of ingredients for Handvo. I am introducing the following recipe, which is very simple to prepare and produces a delicious vegetable cake! Shak Handvo can be served warm or at room temperature for breakfast, lunch, a snack or dinner. I love to pair mine with some pickles and ginger tea for breakfast. Shak Handvo can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to a week. I like to cut it into smaller pieces and then reheat each piece for 20-30 seconds in the microwave. Handvo makes for a perfect potluck, picnic or travel food." Lalitha

Ingredients

1/2 kg (1.1 lb) mixed vegetables, e.g., peas, onions, French (green) beans, cauliflower, carrots, white bottle gourd or your favourite vegetables
1/2 kg (1.1 lb) potatoes salt to taste
1 cup milk
1 cup rice flour
4 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves

Optional:
ginger (chopped finely)
a few curry leaves
mustard seeds
white sesame seeds dried whole or flaked
red chilies

Directions

Boil the mixed vegetables. Boil, peel and mash the potatoes into a smooth pulp. Add the boiled vegetables to the potato pulp. Then add salt, milk, rice flour and coriander leaves. Mix well.

If you are using the optional ingredients, heat the oil of your choice. Add mustard seeds. Once they start sputtering, add ginger and chopped curry leaves. Turn the heat off. Add sesame seeds and chilies. Add this mixture to the dough and mix well.

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a baking pan by greasing all the sides and the bottom. Spread the dough evenly and press it lightly with the heel of your palm.

If desired, sprinkle a little rice flour, bread crumbs or sesame seeds on top of the dough before baking. This will form a brown crust.

The total baking time is 30-45 minutes. Lalitha bakes it for 25 minutes at 350F and then broils it for 5 minutes (which gives it a crispy browned top). Let it cool for 20 minutes, then remove it from the baking pan.

From the kitchen of Lalitha Mahadevan
Article: Diversity in the Kitchen: India

Easy Baingan Bhartha (Oven-roasted Eggplant Curry)

23/8/2021

This easy Baingan Bhartha recipe uses your oven to achieve the smoky flavour of authentic Baingan Bhartha (Smoked eggplant curry). This smoky eggplant curry is popular in Indian and Pakistani (particularly Punjabi) cuisine.

"Since eggplant is a ‘warming’ food, it pairs really well with cooling side dishes. I almost always serve Baingan Bhartha with yogurt on the side. Since Baingan Bhartha is a ‘dry’ curry with minimal gravy, it’s typically served with naan, roti or other bread." Lalitha

Ingredients

2 small eggplants*
3 tbsp ghee*(unsalted butter)
2-3 tbsp canola or grapeseed oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 small onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2- inch piece ginger, crushed
2 small tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste
1 tsp regular or smoked paprika powder*
1/2 tsp (or to taste) red chili powder*
1/4 tsp turmeric powder*

Optional
1 small green chili pepper (e.g., Thai or Serrano), chopped finely
Few curry leaves (chopped finely)
1 to 2 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 or 1 tsp (to taste) garam masala

*Smallish globe-type eggplants about 1 kg or 2.2 lbs in total. Try to choose eggplants that seem light for their size (they have fewer seeds and therefore are less bitter).

*Ghee is similar to clarified butter, where all milk solids are removed, but cooked just a bit longer. Ghee has a slightly more nutty flavour than clarified butter. Ghee is a traditional Indian food. Mix ghee with oil to get the fluidity of the oil and taste of ghee.

*Spices – Too many spices can clutter the remarkable smoky flavour, so Lalitha likes to keep them to a minimum.

Directions

Set oven rack so eggplants will be close to the heat. Using a sharp knife, cut a line from top to bottom of each eggplant on four sides. Use a fork to poke several holes in the eggplants.

Preheat broiler to 550F. Line baking sheet with foil. Roast the eggplants for 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes. The skin will blacken; the eggplant may burst. Once the eggplant cools (you can place it in a bowl of water to speed this up), peel off the blackened skin. Don’t worry if bits of skin remain. Remove stems and coarsely mash the flesh by hand or use the pulse function of a food processor. Set aside.

Heat ghee and oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add cumin seeds. They will start to sputter. Add peppers, curry leaves and onion and sauté for 5-8 minutes until slightly golden. Add garlic and ginger. Sauté 20 seconds. Add tomatoes and cook until they're soft and the oil starts to leave the sides, about 5 minutes. Add water if needed to prevent spices from burning. Add salt, paprika, chili, turmeric and garam masala.

Add mashed eggplant and cook, stirring often, until it is well cooked and becomes mushy like a purée, about 8-10 minutes. Taste and add oil, salt or paprika (for colour) as needed. It has finished cooking when the oil separates from the curried eggplant. After sautéing, if you don’t see the oil separate, add another 1-2 tablespoons of oil.

Turn off the heat. Stir in the chopped cilantro. Sprinkle lemon juice over it and serve.

From the kitchen of Lalitha Mahadevan
Article: Diversity in the Kitchen: India

Carrot Salsa

23/8/2021

Ingredients

6 cups tomatoes
3 cups carrots
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup chopped jalapeño pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

Coarsely chop cored tomatoes, grate peeled carrots and finely chop onions and jalapeño peppers. Leave seeds in if you want more heat. Combine all the vegetables in a large saucepan.

Add vinegar and salt. Cook until it thickens, about 1 hour.

Add honey, freshly ground black pepper and chopped cilantro. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Fill jars, wipe rims, apply lids, and screw on bands. Process in water canner for 15 minutes. (If you are new to canning, check out canning books or advice from a reliable website.)

From the kitchen of Angela MacDougall